A Case For Doing Something That Scares You

I have a type A personality. That means I love planning things out, being organized, knowing what’s going to happen in advance, and having as much control over a situation as possible. Often, this works really well in my favor. I’m always prepared and handle myself well.

But this also means that I get nervous in situations that I don’t think I can control. Now you might be thinking, “How the heck did you move to AMSTERDAM if you’re nervous about situations that you can’t control?” The thing is that I felt quite prepared to move to Amsterdam, and I felt confident in how the move was going to go. I moved a lot as a child, so I was prepared to make new friends and find new ways of doing things.

I recently ran into a situation that totally scared me and made me super nervous because I didn’t know how it would turn out. I’ve spoken in the last few Friday Favorites posts about taking spin classes. After one of my classes, I spontaneously asked what the process was for becoming a teacher.

Next thing I knew, I had an audition scheduled for the following week. And I’d NEVER taught a spin class before. I hadn’t even sat on the teacher’s bike. I had absolutely no idea how to teach the three songs required for the audition. Pretty much my only experience was taking spin classes in Amsterdam and New York.

I was so nervous and unsure of myself that I didn’t do my best job in the audition. My legs were literally shaking before and during. I was so scared to get up in front of people and embarrass myself, so I ended up not putting my best self forward. Thankfully instead of rejecting me flat out, I was invited back to try again on Tuesday. Although I was still quite nervous on Tuesday, I felt far more confident than in my first audition. Which ended up being enough to get me into the training program to become a teacher.

I’m so thrilled to be part of the teacher training and can’t wait to be an instructor. But I’m almost more proud of myself for going out for something that scared the heck out of me. There were so many times that I thought about cancelling the audition. Even if it had ended differently, I am so happy that I decided to go through with it and put myself in an uncomfortable position.

We tend to build things up so much in our head that it feels like it’s all going to be a disaster. But the truth is that we’ll live through it. I made it through my first audition – a little embarrassed, but nothing worse. And by going back and facing it again, I ended up gaining so much confidence in my teaching abilities.

If you don’t feel like doing something that scares you this week – whether it’s asking someone to meet you for coffee, attending an event where you don’t know anyone, or trying out for something that you’re unsure of – do it. Don’t get caught up in your fears and miss out on the experience. Even if it doesn’t work out, you’ll 100% learn something from it.

And you can’t discount that.

Xx, Kelsey

OUTFIT DETAILS:

Sweater is from last year (similar styles here and here) | J. Crew factory toothpick jeans | Franco Sarto block heel | Henri Bendel petal bracelet