The Dreaded “F” Word – FEAR…….

“What if I fall?”……..”Oh dear, but what if you FLY?”

It has been months and month and months since I have been able to sit down and write a blog, but like I always say – no day like today!

When I finally make it to a chair long enough to get some thoughts out, I want to make sure it’s about a topic that lights me up. And boy did I find it for today’s blog.

FEAR!

This seems to be an area that has come up a lot lately. Not only for myself, but for a lot on the VFit team.

The more we push ourselves, the stronger we become and the more we take time to nurture our own needs – the more often fear is going to come up in our lives.

And I consider this a blessing!

I have worked with people of every walk of life over the past 7+ years and the ones who put their health, self-care and fitness first, are the ones that go on to accomplish more in EVERY area of life.

Taking care of YOU brings out a self respect and confidence that is hard earned and shows us we can do more than we thought possible.

When we find this new confidence and strength in ourselves, it pushes us to go for new things, BUT it also means the more times the “F” word is going to rear its head at you.

FEAR!

Sometimes fear may win, but I hope for you that more often than not, you start using that fear and turn it into a better “F” word.

FUEL!

I actually love fear these days.

I am not quite talking jump off a cliff kind of fear, or the kind of fear you feel where your kid tries to run his bike off that steep jump, but the kind of fear that make you uncomfortable. That gives you goosebumps…..That challenges how important something really is to you.

Because what we do with that FEAR is a key way we experience growth.

And when we aren’t growing, we aren’t really alive.

If you take ONE thing away from this blog and even stop reading now, let it be this.

FEAR and DOUBT have crushed FAR more dreams – than failure ever has.

Take that in for a minute. I mean it, really soak that in.

I bet we can all think of at least one time when we let fear hold us back and all we got in return was REGRET!

How many times has something seemed SO scary to you, so far from achievable – only to find that once you face that fear or challenge,  it wasn’t nearly as bad as the build up you made it to be?

Hopefully everyone has gotten to this point. If not, you are letting that fear/doubt keep you from even trying.

I am not a genius in statistics, but I do know as the great athlete Michael Jordan always said, “You will miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Comfort can be good, but it can also be paralyzing.

Make sure you are getting uncomfortable in life, and then like a good conditioner, rinse and repeat.

Guaranteed that what once made you uncomfortable, soon will bring a level of comfort. And that is when it’s time to seek out new avenues to keep on growing and getting uncomfortable yet again.

I can tell you from personal experience so many things that have scared the CR&$ out of me, but those things also changed my life in the best possible way!

Here would be my top 5!

#1 – Having kids!! Heck, this one still scares me daily and seeing as we are adding a 3rd to our tribe, I think I am safe on staying with a level of fear on this part of life!

#2 – Moving from the city to the mountains. So many people doubted my choice to move away from city life and told me I’d never make it as a mountain girl.

I let their FEAR almost hold me back.

And now I can’t think of another place I would rather live or raise my kids.

Connecting with nature and a small town was one of the best things I ever did to ground myself and become a better version of me.

#3 – Becoming a Fitness Instructor. This one ranks high! All my life I looked up to fitness trainers and thought they were superhuman. There was no way that I could be that way – so I told myself (although we are very much NOT superhuman I now know.)

It took someone believing in me more that I believed in myself,to push me to my first training (willPower Method which is still the love of my fitness life), that really made me grow personally and professionally.

Teaching fitness is scary! People are looking at you, judging you, choosing if they want to come to your class…. You are up in front of a crowd!

Public speaking ranks near the top of nearly everyone’s “fear factor” list and with fitness you are talking and moving!

Talk about some vulnerability.

THANK GOD I didn’t let fear stop me here.

I can still feel and remember every ounce of nerves I had teaching my first class. I hope to never forget any of those emotions because they were so real and raw – and I overcame them!

From this fear, I found my true passion and one of my best callings in life. To think  I almost chickened out of it all!

#4 – Leaving my steady 8-5, paycheck job in quest of my dreams to be with my kids more.

I actually learned in this process that I am not that great as a stay at home mom.

Was this a failure? No, quite the opposite.

I learned what feeds my soul and that includes a balance of work and family.

#5 – Which brings me to probably the biggest personal leap I’ve taken, that scared every ounce of me – Starting VFit!

I was in fitness for a few years before launching VFit.

I got my education at the gym, I took training’s at the gym.

I worked at a gym.

I had a lot of friend/colleagues in the industry who owned gyms, managed gyms or worked at gyms.

You see the trend here – gyms…… studios…. whatever you want to call them. A place with 4 walls, that you drive to and that you can smell people’s personal body odor in.

Well I was about to go against the norm when launching VFit. And that is SCARY!

That beloved gym that once was my second home, suddenly became a place that caused more stress and that I was frequenting less and less often than I needed.

I was about to create a solution to a personal problem, but had no real idea if anyone else needed this solution as well.

I stayed up late, I worked early, I busted my butt and I shoved fear away SO many times – just to START!

I didn’t have a fancy website, I didn’t have a “long term strategic plan”, I wasn’t working much so I had pretty much NO money to put into this, no investors, and I sure as heck didn’t have a “business plan”.

I just had a DREAM, an amazing support system and a hell of a hard work ethic.

And then I asked for help! The more scared you are, the more you need to ask for HELP!

I created a team around me and did everything thing I could to treat them all like GOLD.

From the fellow trainers I brought on, to our members who have become like family, to all the other amazing mentors I hired along the way to help me grow professionally as I ventured into starting a company from scratch.

** Side Note – If you have one other work ethic besides working hard, it better be to treat people well. That’s for another blog, but I promise, no greatness can be reached alone – EVER! **

I sit here today and I thank my lucky stars that I took all of the leaps above. They lead me to exactly where I am, right now.

There are a million more scenarios I could share from my past and I hope there will be a million more to come that scare me, but I’ve really learned to LOVE fear.

To let it drive you and not debilitate you.

Really, what is ACTUALLY so scary at that other end that is keeping you from even trying?

Failing…… is that really what is holding you back?

Because isn’t that what you are most afraid of?

But, what does that really even mean?, what defines “failing”?

To me, the only way you fail is to not even begin.

So today, I challenge you to do just ONE thing that scares you!

It can be the smallest thing, like ordering a new dish from your favorite restaurant, but do something that rattles your feathers.

And then first pump yourself, because that is ALWAYS a big deal.

Keep on getting scared, I’ll be right there with you!

Rachele Jaegers, VFit Studio Owner

If you are looking for a tribe out there that is full of REAL people, who are committed to being FIT and having fun, we always have a place on our team. Learn more at ——————> https://thevfitstudio.com/join-vfit-team