There’s something I’ve been thinking about lately, and I wanted to share it because I have a feeling some of you are going to relate to this in your own way.
Back in 2022, I went through heart surgery, and it was one of the most challenging experiences of my life. Up until that point, I was in the best shape I had ever been in, and I think I carried this underlying belief that I was invincible, like nothing could really happen to me. And then something like that happens, and it changes you. It shifts something at a baseline level.
What I didn’t expect was how much fear would show up after that. Not just in big life decisions, but in smaller, everyday things too. Situations that normally wouldn’t even register suddenly started to feel heavier. And I found myself thinking, ” Why does this feel scary now when it didn’t before?’’
And maybe you’ve felt something like this in your own world. Maybe it’s not health-related, maybe it’s business. Maybe things were working, you felt confident, you were moving fast, and then something happens. A setback, a loss, a moment that shakes you a little. And after that, even the things you used to do easily start to feel different.
Showing up for a webinar suddenly feels heavier. Hitting “go live” doesn’t feel as automatic. Making a decision takes longer than it used to. There’s just more hesitation where there wasn’t before. That’s been the real shift for me. The fear didn’t just show up, it started showing up in places it didn’t belong.
And what I’ve realized is that I can’t wait for that fear to go away before I act. I have to challenge it. I have to keep stepping into the things that feel uncomfortable, even when they feel more uncomfortable than they should. Because every time I do that, every time I push through even a small moment of hesitation, it starts to recalibrate things again. It reminds me that I can still do hard things. It starts to redefine what actually is scary and what isn’t.
And the truth is, the more we do the things we’re afraid of, the less power that fear has over time. That hasn’t changed. What’s changed is just the intensity of the feeling.
But there’s another side to this that I didn’t expect. The gift that came out of that experience was love. I feel things more deeply now. I think more about where my time goes. I care more about being present with my family, not just being there, but actually being there. And those things matter to me in a way that’s much more conscious now.
So there’s this trade-off that happened. More fear on one side, but also more awareness, more presence, and more love on the other. And honestly, that’s a trade-off I’ll take. It just means I have to be more intentional about how I show up. I have to remind myself that even if something feels scary, it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it. In most cases, it probably means I should.
And I wanted to share this because I know how easy it is to think that once you’ve grown past a certain point, you’re always going to operate at that level. But that’s not always how it works. Sometimes something shifts, your baseline changes, and you have to grow again. You have to rebuild that confidence. You have to step back into discomfort. You have to prove to yourself, again, that you can handle it.
And if you’re in a season right now where things feel heavier than they used to, whether it’s in your life or in your business, I just want you to know that it’s okay. It doesn’t mean you’ve gone backwards. It just means you’re at a point where growth needs to happen again.
For me, that looks like continuing to show up, continuing to do the things that feel uncomfortable, and not letting fear quietly dictate what I do and don’t do. Because on the other side of that is the version of me I’m trying to get back to, and honestly, an even better version than before.
If this is the kind of conversation that resonates with you, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel. I’m sharing more of these conversations there, and I’d love to have you along for it.
