Feel the Fear (…but Do It Anyway)

I recently played the piano for a Sunday morning service at my church because all our pianists were on a youth trip to Washington State. It’s not like they forced me to do it – I volunteered. By the next day, I questioned my sanity, “What was I THINKING?!”

Did I mention that I am NOT a piano player? That I know about as many basic piano chords as a kindergartner by her third piano lesson? I guess I was considering how awkward it can be to sing acapella and that a little piano accompaniment might keep the congregation singing in the same key at least.

Challenging myself to step outside of my comfort zone has never been easy for me. During my awkward teenage years, I was insecure and completely lacked self-confidence (don’t most teenagers?). When someone spoke to me, I avoided looking them in the eyes and usually covered half of my face with my hand. Trying something new was almost a phobia for me. Thankfully, I had a foster mom who threw me “out of the nest” several times to help me exercise my wings. She told me one day that she informed the youth pastor at church that I would be singing a solo the next youth night and warned me that I had better get prepared. I loved to write, so she made sure the lady in charge of the church bulletin asked me for submissions every month.

I learned to get involved before I could be volunteered for awkward experiences. At least I could pick my own tortures before she had a chance to. Before I left the foster home at 18, I had been a Peer Counselor, was on the yearbook and newspaper staff at school, was a guest speaker at several local suicide panel discussion groups (while looking people in the eyes with my hands kept away from my face) and had sung many solos at church. Did I feel fear during any of these experiences? Would it help to admit that I would almost throw up and had near panic attacks before most of these moments? Yep, you get the picture.

I’m not alone in this.

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, was terrified of speaking in public – and presidents do a LOT of public speaking! Ever heard of the great revolutionary leader, Mahatma Gandhi? Try leading millions of followers when you are deathly afraid of speaking in front of them. When Gandhi was a lawyer, he completely failed in his first court case by panicking and walking out of the courtroom because of his fear of speaking.

I love TED Talks. Many of them are remarkably inspirational and educating. One speaker named Jia Jiang (rejectiontherapy.com) really made an impact on me in the way he faced his fear of rejection. He put himself in situations that would almost certainly end in rejection. He did this for 100 days. His experiences are amazing to listen to and genuinely uplifting. You can check out Jia Jiang’s TED Talk here:

There is a surplus of ideas out there on how to face your fears and overcome them. They range from visualizing success to chanting mantras about “believing in yourself”. Some of them work – many do not.

Here is my personal go-to approach:

“Feel the Fear but Do It Anyway”

Nothing profound here. It’s simply understanding that you cannot wish away, chant away, or meditate away your fear of something. You can give pep talks to yourself in the mirror, listen to hours of motivational speakers, and call your best friend for words of affirmation. The verdict? You will probably still be scared silly.

Do it anyway.

Understand that you will be afraid but let that be your energy source. That adrenaline soaring through every pore of your body? Use it to propel you forward. The worst you can do is fail, right? But, what if you don’t? You may never know if you don’t “just do it”.

Let’s take a peek into the Bible and learn about how a group of people lost out on a victory and a once-in-THEIR-lifetime opportunity:

Numbers 13:30-31

(30) And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it.

(31) But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

Let me give you a little back story here…

It was time for the Israelites to claim the Promise Land that God had led them to. It was a land overflowing with rich vegetation and plenty of productive land for all.

God gives Moses instructions to send 12 men (one from each of the tribes) to spy out the land and the challenges they would face before they marched in to claim it. (Numbers 13)

I can imagine these men setting off with heads held high, slapping each other on the back in their excitement, with promises to bring back exotic Canaanite souvenirs for friends and loved ones.

Forty days later, the welcoming committee standing at the edge of the wilderness of Paran spied a band of haggard men returning home with grim expressions on their faces. They carried the promised souvenirs in the form of luscious fruit from the land – but they also carried bad news.

“There are giants in the land,” eleven of the men proclaimed as one voice, “Huge, brawny, unconquerable giants. I think we better pull the map back out and see where else we can live.”

Except for Caleb.

You have already read above what he had to say about it.

Long story short – the Israelite nation was doomed to wander for 40 more weary years in that forsaken desert because of their FEAR and lack of trust in God’s plan. That generation would die and never set foot in that promised land.

Except for Caleb.

He waited a long time to get there, but he was the only one of that generation to make it.

Moral of the story?

What if those 11 other men had come back with a different attitude? What if they had proclaimed to their captive audience that, “Yes, it will be a challenge and a bit scary but that the Israelite people should feel the fear but do it anyway!?”

They would’ve been indulging in the next year’s harvest from their vineyards in Canaan.

I will leave you to ponder that…