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This past weekend my son, his girlfriend and their dog came down from Toronto to visit and spend some time with us in our new location.
It’s always a great time when they visit because the two dogs (theirs and ours) get along so well and are so much more active and rambunctious together.
This time was special as Chonk, their dog and my son Kevin got our dog, Guinness, to venture into the St Lawrence River. This was something he had avoided at all costs with us.
He would not even get his feet wet! We thought he was afraid of the water.
And it was all because of the two of them, that he overcame his fear of the unknown, to be with them in the river. If they could do it, he could do it.
After they left, we met up at the river with my brother-in-law’s wife and grandkids who were swimming at the beach that evening.
This time Guinness ventured even further into the water, chasing the two boys, playing with them and was even swimming by the end of the night!
It was like he was a water dog all his life!
He was experiencing something new and enjoying it so much! So what is the point of this story?
What I watch transpire with the dogs is what happens to us in real life.
When we want to do something that we know nothing about, we may initially have a fear of the unknown (FOTU), a fear of dipping our toe in the water and getting our feet wet.
This fear may be so strong that it holds us back and in fact we may give up on the experience or opportunity.
It could be that we fear being a failure or getting rejected or even injured by doing something risky. The thing is, we don’t know how it will turn out but we often assume the worst.
Sometimes we have the courage to overcome that fear ourselves. Sometimes, as in this case with our dog, we have someone to show us the way, to talk or mentor us into doing it, or give us that little push we need.
When I look back at my life, I had a lot of fears that could have held me back from getting my feet wet and moving forward in personal endeavours and with business opportunities.
But when I was in an indecisive position or in other words, fear of the unknown was holding me back, I turned to outside support. Family, friends, mentors, books, etc., were there to help me get through the wall of fear and go forward.
And I am so glad I did because it would have been so easy to do nothing.
So are you holding yourself back from doing something you want to do, from getting your feet wet? Maybe it’s time to jump in the water and go for it! Feel free to book a call with me here.
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