She was about to do a backflip into the Cenote*. Her friend yelled at her “be careful”. After a few hesitant seconds, she changed her mind and didn’t jump.
How many times do you find yourself in her shoes? You’re about to push your edge and challenge yourself when a well meaning friend calls in the fear by saying “be careful”? As if you weren’t going to be careful otherwise!
How many times have you called in the fear and unconsciously discouraged other people from doing something they really wanted to do?
One of the most cruel things you can say to another are these 2 dirty words: “Be Careful”. The real interpretation is “I’m afraid and I’m going to infect you with my fear”. Sadly these words are etched in our psyche by parents and care givers and we keep spreading the fear. In reality, they are useless, discouraging and deprive others of discovering their true potential. Adults take calculated risks. That’s how we grow and learn. Before proceeding to do something edgy, we agonize over the possibilities, pluck up our courage and finally move towards our challenge. Hearing those dangerous words “be careful” often, in a blink of an eye, throw us back into the agony of “what if everything goes wrong?”. Once our mind catches a whiff of that fear, it’s extremely hard to focus on anything else. Especially in those critical moments before taking the final leap into the unknown.
Next time you feel these words percolating in your mind, change them to “Yes you can!”. Spread confidence, support and courage instead. You can drastically change someone’s life forever when you give them that final push of encouragement at the right moment when they need support, not fear.
Fear is the most contagious and the most addictive meme ever! “Be Careful”, don’t spread it around.
* Cenotes are natural fresh water sinkholes in the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico.
#becareful #fear #fearculture #loveculture #encourage #yesyoucan #cenote #yucatan #mexico
Unconditional Love 