Guest Blog Post: Unfamiliar Places by Kathy K Taylor

I have these two horses…

Roxy is what you would call energy efficient. She’s super dependable, easy to manage and I can pretty much count on her to be level-headed in any situation. We have been together a long time so our communication can be really subtle.

My other horse, Isaac, was literally born to run. Moving forward is effortless and graceful for him. It’s one of the things that attracted me to him. I soon found out, however, that  I’m not the fan of “forward” that he is. I was quite comfortable with Roxy’s predictability. With Isaac, I’ve have seen how much ground he can cover in a single stride and that big movement seems out of control and scary to me!  

Isaac is a pretty good metaphor for me in business and life at the moment. I have big dreams, but I want to control the pace. The problem with this is that I only know what I know.  That leaves out a whole lot of information and experience.

I want to go for my dreams AND I want to control the speed. That may have been fine with Roxy, but Isaac was created for forward. In fact, he’s much more relaxed when he’s covering ground and moving forward than when I hold him back because I’m afraid. You can imagine the racehorse at the starting gate and how anxious he is to be let go…

Isaac’s teaching me just how ugly “control” is. When I’m afraid, I get tight. I stop breathing. My muscles get hard and my brain shuts down. Fear breaks the connection I have with my horse and he gives me a powerful reminder of that horse in the starting gate.

I am learning that my response must be to relax, give him his head and b-r-e-a-t-h-e. Instantly, we reconnect, slow down and move forward with grace and ease.

Fear of being out of control causes me to take the reins and leaves us both feeling resentful and “stuck.”  

We’re born with only two fears— fear of falling in the fear of loud noises. Any other fear you have is learned. This is good news. If a fear is learned, it can also be unlearned.

I’m committed to unlearning this fear of moving forward by letting go of control and partnering with “forward”–even if it’s scary. I’m willing to risk being uncomfortable and step into unfamiliar places.

How about you?

Is there some fear that you’re holding on to because it feels safer or more comfortable? If you’re tired of having to be the one in control (it IS exhausting!!) and you’re ready to let go and TRUST that you’ll be okay.

If you would like to talk more about your fear and how you can walk into unfamiliar places, connect with me below!