The Gift of the Gab from the Blarney Stone
I just spent two and a half weeks on a cruise around Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, France and Amsterdam. It was a trip of a life time and I enjoyed every minute of it! I thought I would tell you how I faced 2 fears of mine while I was away.
While I was in Ireland, I went to Blarney and I kissed the Blarney stone. It is said that people who kiss the Blarney stone will be given the gift of gab! For those of you who know me, you know that I probably did not need this as I'm a pretty talkative person who knows what to say most of the time, but I thought this is tradition and I didn't want to miss out on anything or regret not doing anything!
To get to the Blarney stone, you have to climb 125 small, winding, steep steps in a tower of a castle. To give you an idea of what these steps looked like, my size 5.5 feet barely fit on the steps and you had to hold on to a rope to climb up them because they were so steep and winding. Once you finally make it to the top of the tower, you have to lie down and kiss the Blarney stone upside down! Some of you may be wondering why I'm telling you this...what's the big deal? Well, I am terrified of heights and I am also claustrophobic...two things that do not work well with kissing the Blarney stone!
There I was slowly climbing the steps, terrified of getting stuck in such a tight space but I kept climbing, knowing I'd be more upset if I didn't do it! When I got to the top, I was so proud of myself for 2 minutes and then it was time to go upside down from high up! I started shaking with fear. The rational side of my brain knew I'd be ok because there were bars there to prevent falling, and there was a man there to hold on to you while you kiss the stone but as some of you know, the rational side of your brain stops working when you are anxious and scared.
I thought to myself, what do I tell my clients when they are anxious....positive self talk!!! So I started telling myself, "you can do this" over and over. The nice gentleman who held on to me knew I was scared so he reassured me that I'd be ok and with a deep breath I turned upside down and kissed the stone!! I did it!!! I faced my fears and didn't let them stop me from doing something I really wanted to do!!!
Why am I telling you this? It is not for you to give me kudos for facing some of my fears but instead I'm hoping it can inspire you to face some of your own fears! Anxiety and fear are such horrible things but the truth is that the more you avoid something, the worse the anxiety gets. The only way to overcome fear is to expose yourself to whatever it is that you're afraid of. Remember, you can do it with deep breaths, positive self talk and supportive people in your life! You only have the one life to live so why not enjoy every moment instead of letting fear stop you and then regretting it later!
YOU CAN DO IT!!!! :)
