4 Things I’ve Learned While Being Fearless in 2016

Holy moly, I can’t believe it’s only TUESDAY. Hi, week. You’ve already been very crazy.

Last night was the third Holistic Happening yoga + healthy dinner event! Yours truly has been teaching the yoga classes and my partner-in-crime Leslie (a health coach!) is in charge of all things food.

Even though Leslie and I have done this 3 times now, I still can’t believe Holistic Happening is really a thing! Last night I had a moment to take it all in. It seriously warmed my heart to look around and see total strangers chatting about their favorite wellness books, recipes and fitness classes around the city.

In addition to spreading my love of yoga and feeding people healthy but tasty food, the mission behind Holistic Happening is to connect like-minded people through interactive wellness events. To see total strangers connecting in NYC was really something special.

Our next yoga + dinner event will be Tuesday, October 25th. Additional details + sign up here. Hope to see you there 🙂

 

4 Things I’ve Learned While Being Fearless in 2016

On the topic of Holistic Happening, I’ve been thinking a lot about fear lately. At the beginning of year, I declared I would live this year fearlessly.

As someone who struggles with a phobia, fear has been omnipresent in my life for as long as I can remember. It’s always dictated what I can and cannot do.

Living fearlessly is obviously SO much easier said than done. The truth is, I can’t even acknowledge when fear is holding me back half the time because it’s become such second nature.

Since declaring fearless as my word of 2016, I’ve at least become more attune to when fear is holding me back versus some other, real, reason. When I have a moment of hesitation, which means I’m letting fear creep in, I tell myself to man the f*ck up and be more ballsy. Seriously, sometimes you just gotta be stern with yourself.

I’ve let fear dictate my life quite literally and figuratively over the years and it hasn’t gotten me anywhere good.

I won’t pretend like I’ve suddenly become this fearless badass babe in 2016. That’s just not realistic and not me. But I have taken the phrase be more ballsy to heart. And without a healthy dose of fearlessness I never would’ve told Leslie my idea for Holistic Happening out of fear she’d roll her eyes and think it’s dumb.

2016 is not quite over just yet, but I wanted to drop some knowledge on y’all about the things I’ve learned so far while living fearlessly. Or at least as fearlessly as possible…

Giving in to fear is boring

Throwing events like last night’s Holistic Happening scare the crap out of me.

There are SO many what-if’s that play over and over again in my head before every event. What if no one signs up? What if no one shows up? What if everyone hates my yoga class? What if I totally draw a blank in the middle of teaching yoga? I could go on and on…

But allowing that fear to stop me from doing what I want to do, in this case throw a bitchin’ wellness event, would be just plain boring. What’s the fun in that?

 

The worst thing that could happen is nothing.

I was SUPER nervous about reaching out to Primary, the co-working space where the event was held last night. Leslie and I were looking for a great indoor space that fit our needs and of course budget. After hearing about Primary (they have a yoga studio!) from a friend, I knew it was worth reaching out.

I had convinced myself that Primary would laugh in my face. I’m fully aware that Holistic Happening is still just a baby company with big ambitions.

The truth is, people aren’t generally rude over email to total strangers who are asking questions. And the worst thing that could’ve happened was I get no response. Obviously it worked out well and we now have a partnership with Primary.

I’ve taken this same approach when it comes to reaching out to bloggers and creative entrepreneurs I admire. The worst thing that could happen is they don’t respond. Far worse things can happen in life.

 

It’s okay to have a vulnerability hangover.

All this fearless-ness also means I’ve been very vulnerable whether it’s sharing personal stories here on the blog and instagram or reaching out to people about attending an event I’m throwing.

A vulnerability hangover is that moment after you share something big or vulnerable and then have that moment of “oh dear god, did I really just share that super personal thing about me on instagram? DELETE! DELETE!”

Brene Brown argues that if you don’t feel a vulnerability hangover, you haven’t gone far enough. That feeling in your gut is a sign of courage, not regret.

I’m learning to lean in to that feeling instead of full out panicking when things get serious and vulnerable. And full disclosure, I bet I’ll have that feeling in my belly tomorrow after publishing this post…

 

Being fearless = being less self-conscious.

I really struggled with being self-conscious in college. At my theater school, I met with all my theater teachers at the end of every semester to discuss my work and growth in a big, scary, panel-like setting. We also received written evaluations from all our theater teachers as well. It’s as horrifying as it sounds.

Reading my evaluations from college now, 4+ years later, still makes me cry. I was SO terrified all the time of how I was being judged and perceived. I know it showed in a lot of my work. It was a vicious cycle of how do you feel less self-conscious when all your teachers are pointing out the fact that you are self-conscious.

In being fearless, I’ve also learned to stop caring about what other people think, and in turn think that has allowed me to really be the real me and my most genuine, authentic, self.

 

 

YOUR TURN: How are your 2016 resolutions going?