The first time it happened I thought to myself, “Hmmm. That was interesting.”
Then it happened again and again and again.
I should have kept track but I didn’t. Let’s just say it is not uncommon to hear similar comments or questions after I am done speaking on Cultivating Courage.
“Have you been through treatment?”
It’s the question I often get that I never expected.
“Everything you talk about is exactly what I learned when I went through treatment,” they say.
I have never been through treatment so I was surprised by the parallels between facing your fears and facing your addictions!
Step One in Cultivating Courage in your personal and professional life is to Name Your Fear. You need to acknowledge there is something that is holding you back from achieving your goal.
Step one in the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable.
Now, I don’t know what you think of Dr. Phil but he has a great quote that I love and use in my presentation.
He states, “You cannot change what you don’t acknowledge.”
That’s pretty cut and dried whether it’s facing a fear you have or facing an addiction problem you might have.
You’ll never overcome the fear or the addiction until you are willing to acknowledge it.
A while ago after finishing a speaking engagement a young lady came up to visit with me about someone in her life that wasn’t willing to acknowledge an issue they had in their life and she wanted to know how she could help this person.
As we visited and I asked a few questions it became very clear that the person with the fear was her and she definitely was not ready, or was simply unwilling, to deal with it.
After discussing this possibility with her I asked her if anyone else has ever told her that. She replied very quickly that many people had tried to point this out to her but she said she didn’t see it.
It takes great courage for addicts to face up to their addictions.
It takes great courage for those in the lives of addicts to not continue to enable addicts in their addiction.
It takes great courage to face your fears and acknowledge them so you can deal with them.
It takes great courage for those in the lives of people not facing their fears to not continue to enable their fearful behavior.
Yeah, I know. That’s a really poorly worded sentence but I think you get what I mean!
Courage has a price and in each case you could damage the relationship. I contend that fear has an even bigger price and failing to act will lead to paying that price in some way.
Is there a fear or an addiction that you need to acknowledge today?
Is there someone in your life that is facing a fear or an addiction that you’re not calling them out on and continuing to enable the behavior?
You cannot change what you don’t acknowledge!
Matthew 18:15-17
Have a STRONG and COURAGEOUS day!
Is there a fear I have not acknowledged? Indeed. However, too often it is easier to live with the fear and whine about it than to define it and do something about it.