01/10/2025
I started to think about fear on Sunday when I attended a pickleball coaching session. One of the women had a fear about being hit in the face with the ball. A rational fear in some ways, but you could see it was holding her game back.
Fear is one of our oldest survival tools, rooted in the brain’s natural instinct to protect us from danger. Sometimes, though, what we fear isn’t life-threatening at all—it’s the unknown, failure, rejection, or even our own potential. These fears often grow from the beliefs we’ve carried with us: “I’m not good enough,” “I might get it wrong,” or “It’s safer not to try.”
The truth is, fear shrinks when we turn to face it. By getting curious about our fears—asking where they come from, what they’re trying to teach us, and whether the story behind them is really true—we begin to loosen their grip. Each time we lean in instead of stepping back, we rewrite the beliefs that once held us hostage.
Facing fear doesn’t mean eliminating it—it means moving forward with courage, even while it walks beside us.
