Pushing Past the Fear
The only thing to fear is fear itself. - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Happy April!
First off today I want to thank so many of you for your sweet well wishes during our family emergency that I shared in last week’s Victory Letter. I am happy to say that Ed is home and feeling really good with his new and improved heart.
In last week’s letter I shared 6 elements to reduce stress with the 6th one being around having a hobby you love. Mine, as many of you know, is gardening. A hobby can transform itself, as gardening did for me, with four key stages.
Stage 1 – Necessity
I couldn’t afford to landscape the brand new home I had purchased on my own forty years ago as all the funds had gone into buying the house. A friend suggested seeds and a small garden to replace the dirt. So, I did just that and my first garden was born.
Stage 2 – Curiosity
Many hobbies start at this phase. For me, watching those first seeds come out of the ground intrigued me year after year. They pushed me to try new things. Four years ago, I started growing seeds indoors for the first time and have enjoyed this part of my hobby so much! This year I am growing along with my tomatoes, peppers, artichokes, and onions (to name a few), dahlias from seed for the first time.
Stage 3 - Passion
This is key to get you past the rough spots. Every hobby encompasses the learning that comes from your failures along the way. I have killed many a plant, planted the wrong things that took over my garden, or had seeds never germinate. And my passion helps me to appreciate the many lessons learned and encourages me to keep going.
Stage 4 – Sharing
This is the part where you get so excited about your hobby because of this passion, pastime, diversion, fun or whatever you want to call it, that you want to share it with others. This is where I am at with gardening and sharing what it brings to my life and understand better how it fits into the lives of others as well.
Through both my You Tube channel now dedicated to gardening (this past week’s video below) and starting up the Victory Garden Club again I am walking a new path in my life. And you know what … it’s scary!!
As an entrepreneur and a Coach working with entrepreneurs over the past 25 years, I have seen in my own ventures and those of my clients how fear can stop us in our tracks many, many times along the way. Those who have held out for the true victories are the ones who felt the fear and did it anyway.
Because my friend there is nothing worse than knowing that you didn’t succeed because you didn’t step through the fear and gave up. Be it a major life goal or even to give yourself the time and patience to thoroughly enjoy a hobby.
Because this life of ours is not a dress rehearsal, there is no time like the present to wrap yourself around a hobby that you love. Asking yourself the important question, if not now, when?
Here’s to feeling the fear and using it to power us forward with activities in our life that reduce stress because they make us smile so much along our journey.
Here is to an April that gives you lots of reasons to smile!
To Your Success and Victories
Cheri Ruskus
Creator and Growth Mentor
@victorygirl
Ready to change the way you Plan?
Check out my Grow Sessions and Planner
Questions? Email me!
