I am one of those people who are hesitant to embark on a new adventure alone. I have been in situations where, if I don’t know anyone else but the person throwing the party, I will have a difficult time going to the party. I get anxious. I expect that some of you are like me in that sense. I like to envision myself at the event (and hopefully having a good time) before I actually go to the event. If I can’t “see myself in the situation”, I won’t go.

This hesitance covers all aspects of my life: career, social (as mentioned above), and even in my personal fitness. Since my husband stopped running due to a back injury, I have had a couple of opportunities in the area to run local races (5K, 8K, 10K races). However, although I have been “very close” to signing up and have told others “oh, I’m going to run that race too!”, I have become too anxious about the event to actually sign up (”will I be the slowest runner there?”, “how will I get there?”, “will I know anyone else there? If so, will they laugh at me?” etc). After all, my running buddies are not in the immediate area, and running a race would be me–just me–embarking on a new adventure. I’ve always had my husband or friends to be there to help me through these things.

This holiday, the local road runners club threw a New Year’s 5K race that was practically free ($5 for non-members) and there was NO pre-registration until race day so I didn’t have to stress about signing up or losing registration dollars if I didn’t show up–not that I’ve done THAT before!). So, although we had friends over to celebrate the New Year, I decided to get up early and run the race!

Although I had those anxiety-ridden feelings the night prior and the morning of the race, I forced myself to go to the race and actually run. What did I have to lose? My previous fears of being the last person to finish and my fears of not knowing where to go and what to do dissipated when I realized that

a) I just followed everyone else when signing up for the race and running, and
b) I actually finished in the top 42% of female runners (of ~100) and female runners in my age range.

So, what WAS I so afraid of all this time?????

So, I am sure that many of you are probably like me: hesitant to try something new. I’m here to tell you that although it’s natural to be afraid and anxious about some new adventure, it’s important to break through those walls if you want to accomplish goals in life.

Maybe you’re afraid to go to the gym because people will “make fun of you”; the way I see it, if others are making fun of you, then they just aren’t working hard enough at the gym! Maybe you don’t take that aerobics class because you’re afraid you’ll “make a fool of yourself”–do you think the instructor did a perfect routine the first time they took a class? Probably not–just remember, everyone has to start somewhere!

This empowerment I feel today by doing something that I was so afraid to do may not mean that I’ll be able to just forget my anxieties and sign up for/run every race, but I hope that it will help me embark on new adventures that I may have been resistant to even attempting because of that “fear factor”. Good luck on accomplishing your goals and getting over that hump!

_{Photo Courtesy of Violator3}