Oh my god. This very well might be my most frightening moment since beginning the 100 Things I Fear challenge.  I am quite frankly shivering with fear and excitement.

You see, I received $5 of Borders Bucks.  I know, that in and of itself isn’t frightening at all.  But, just wait until you hear what I did with it.

I bought this book…

…and even before I purchased it I felt the power of it.  I held it in my hands.  Turned it over.  Read a few phrases.  And immediately began talking myself out of buying it.  There were so many good reasons to put it back:

I have countless books I haven’t read yet.

I’m behind in the blogging book club for The Joy Diet.

When am I going to have time to read?

I’m already in the middle of Convos with God book 2.

I shouldn’t spend more money on books – this is becoming an addiction.

And yet, despite all the very well-thought-out-reasons to put this book back and pass it up….I bought it.  I did it.  And now there is no turning back.  Its message is already humming in my heart.  Its power coursing through my veins.  I want to run and hide.  But, I want my dreams to come true too.  I want to put my talents out there.  I want my thoughts to become intentional things.  I want to lead the way.

Oy, and that pesky voice of fear says, “Put it away.  Don’t read this book.  You don’t need it.  You can do anything you want on your own.”

Well, you know what, fear?  I’m not going to run away.  And nothing you can say will stop me from reading this book, absorbing it, and putting it into practice.  I’m done saying, “It can’t happen to me,” and “That’s too big for me,” because:

It can happen to me.

It’s not too big for me.

I can publish a New York Times Bestseller.

I can travel the world spreading the Simply Fearless message.

In fact, I am a New York Times Bestseller author.

And I do travel the world spreading the Simply Fearless message.

There simply isn’t any way you can stop this from happening because it’s already happened.  The path is paved.  The rewards are there.  And I get to take one step at a time towards it and through it.

Life is glorious right now.  The process is perfect.  What a grand adventure.  I am the luckiest person on the planet.

Now step aside.

Thank you.

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, books, courage, fear, Infinite Possibilities, Mike Dooley, success

I saw him a few feet away from the gushing water.

“Oh! I wonder what happened?” I thought.

I kept running and realized that he was a city worker cleaning the gutters before the rainy season kicks in.  I wanted to say thank you to him for helping us create such a beautiful community, but my pace carried me through the puddles quickly and he was already behind me.

“Oh well.  Maybe next time.” I consoled myself knowing that I wouldn’t say it next time either.  It’s just too weird for some random runner to say something so personal to a stranger.  So I let it all go with my next exhale and got on with my run.

On the way home, I rounded the corner by the church and low and behold who do you think was now cleaning the gutters up ahead a block?! Yup, it was him.  The city worker had progressed down the street and I was once again approaching him.  But, this time I had plenty of time to figure out what I was going to say and say it.  Crap! Why did the “next time” have to be so close to the first time?

The voice of fear kicked in and said, “What kind of freak gives compliments to city workers? He doesn’t care what you think.  Just keep on running.  No one will ever know you thought about saying thanks and didn’t.”

Whew.  What was I going to do? Was I going to give in to fear and say nothing? Or was I going to risk looking like a freak?

One step in front of the next.

Heart pounding.

Out of breath.

Here he is.

“Thank you!” I said and smiled at him.

He looked up startled.

We made eye contact.

“For all that you do for our community,” I explained.

His expression softened into a smile, “You’re welcome.”

The surge of exhilaration I felt prompted me to jump over the next puddle!  I almost cleared it.  Instead I splashed right on by and ran the rest of the way home with a big ass smile.

–

This 100 Things I Fear challenge rocks it!  Feel free to join us at any time.

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, courage, fear, negative self talk, success

Can you believe I forgot about my own challenge on Saturday? Part of me feels like such a loser and another part of me knows that it is Simply Fearless to just come clean, tell you that I forgot, and move on.  So that’s what I’m doing!

I didn’t forget on Sunday and the fear I faced was asking my cast mates to run lines with me {I’m performing as Dorothy in the Wizard of SOM this Wednesday}.  I had sent out an email late Saturday night asking to rehearse after church on Sunday and when I showed up for church the next day the voice of fear said, “No one wants to rehearse with you.  Just forget about it.  Don’t make eye contact and slip away quickly.”  Again, I asked myself, “Am I going to allow fear to lead the way?”

Oh heck no!

I walked right up to cast mates, looked them square in the eyes, and asked if they were available to run lines.  4 of the 6 weren’t available, but 2 were and said yes.  Woohoo!  I received some serious help from fantastic actors all while walking through my own fear.  How cool is that? I am seriously loving this challenge.  I feel more and more courageous every day.  Wait.  Allow me to reframe:

I am more and more courageous every day!

The Hubs continues to be an awesome source of strength

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, courage, fear, goals, success

I met with my Think Tank this week. We get together and brainstorm for each other. It’s a great way to grow your business.

Corinne & Kate are awesome!

Then I went over to Santa Clara University to walk through the garden:

It’s a beautiful campus:

On Friday I went to a party and my favorite person was this cutie:

And on Saturday we were of course propped up in front of the tellie watching Cal football!

How was your week? I’d love to hear about it.

{visit my flickr site for all of my photos}
{visit the host of Weekly Winners Sarcastic Mom and check out everyone else’s photos too}

Oh crap! I almost forgot…this week I started 100 Things I Fear and it’s so damn cool! Check it out…

{note: I’m super swamped preparing for my last performance as Dorothy in the Wizard of SOM – I’m sorry if I’m not able to visit your site & comment on your photos this week.  I so love connecting with everyone.}

Tags: cal football, nature, people, photography, Weekly Winners

“Fear in Motion”

You know, ever since I started this whole 100 Things I Fear craziness I’ve been so aware of when fear is holding me back.  Of course, the really cool thing about knowing when fear is getting in the way is that then I get to make a choice if I’m going to let it hold me back.  And you know what? When I consciously ask myself, “Am I going to let this stop me?” the answer is:

No! I’m not going to let fear stop me.

I’ve done so many courageous things that I’ve even impressed me.  Like yesterday, a colleague/friend asked me if I would like an introduction to a successful teen advocate and I said yes.  At the time, the voice of fear was telling me, “Why would this guy want to help you?  Just say no.  You don’t need his help.  You can do this on your own.”  I was so close to doing just that: saying no.

And then, I noticed that this was the voice of fear.  Was I going to let it stop me? NO!  And I told her to yes, please initiate the introduction.

Whew!  One fear faced with victory! And by the way, I’ve noticed a theme of fear here in asking for other successful peeps to help me.  Interesting.

Then later that night I was at a party and the karaoke machine was fired up.  I so wanted to sing.  In fact, it was me who asked them to turn it on.  But, then I freaked out. I’d never done this before.  I didn’t know the crowd very well.  What if I sounded like crap?

And then I was like, “Am I seriously going to walk away from this? Am I that concerned about looking bad that I’m not going to do this? But, I love to sing.  Who cares how I sound.  Just do it.  It’s not like these people are going to laugh and make fun of you.  Even if they did you probably won’t ever see most of them again anyhow.”

So, I picked the song I really wanted to sing (Over the Rainbow by Judy Garland) and stood up and sang.  And guess what? I rocked it out! It felt so good to get out of my own way.  It was so liberating to not allow the fear to sit my ass back down on the couch.  You know, if I didn’t sing I would have felt like crap and then probably treated my husband like crap the rest of the night.

Yup, it’s true: when you don’t face & process your own fears, you tend to treat others badly as an outlet – especially spouses! So what are you waiting for? Jump on this crazy bandwagon with me & face a 100 fears in a 100 days!

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, confidence, courage, fear, success

Although it didn’t make my 100 Things I Fear list today – it totally freaked me out to record on location. I was so excited about it and then I arrived and got all self conscious. It was so weird because I’m usually not shy about stuff at all.  But, I was in a public plaza with high rise buildings all around.  People who I couldn’t even see could have been watching…funny how I’m so willing to post my vid all over the net, but God forbid a stranger see me film!  I guess it’s a vulnerable place to be.  Yeah, it is a vulnerable place to be and I look forward to doing it again until it doesn’t freak me out at all.  Hey, maybe it will make my 100 Things I Fear list in the future!

Okay enough rambling, this video {3:06} is all about feeling better now even when you’re in a job you hate.  Check it out and let me know what you do.

Tags: career, happiness, hate, job, success, VLOG {Videos of me!}

“What worries you?”

Yesterday I launched the 100 Things I Fear challenge.  I’m super excited because so many people are taking it on with me!  This is my very first meme and when I put it all together I didn’t even realize that’s what I was doing.  It wasn’t until people started commenting and linking to it that I realized, “Oh…I just founded a meme!”  How cool is that?

Anyhow, some of the feedback I’ve received is, “I’m not afraid of 100 things.” And I really want to address that because you don’t have to be afraid of 100 things in order to join the fun.  The whole purpose of 100 Things I Fear is to stretch your comfort zone a little bit every day. It could be that you are afraid of one thing (like cold calling for your business) and so you do that one thing every day for 100 days.  You see, it doesn’t have to be 100 separate things.  In fact, I don’t even know if I’m afraid of 100 things – although as the Simply Fearless Coach I’m probably afraid of thousands of things - it takes a lot of fear to have a lot of courage – wrap your mind around that one!

Anyhow, here’s what I’m doing…
Every day I think about one thing I could do that I’m afraid of – one thing that forces me to step right outside my comfort zone – and then I go and do it.  I’m really committed to the “little bit every day” piece of the challenge.  Yes, I have already thought about doing 2 things in one day to cover a day that I might not feel like doing it – and if you’re taking the challenge I totally don’t mind if you do that – but, for me the real value is in making it a daily practice because long lasting transformation happens in small, consistent steps.

Yeah, I might not update my list every day, but I will definitely do my 1 thing and post when I’m back on-line – sometimes it’s important not to turn my computer on for a whole day.  Oh!  That could totally be part of someones 100 Things List!  We get so attached to our computers.  Can you imagine not turning it on for an entire 24 hours without telling people ahead of time?

Okay Peeps, go ahead and jump off the 2 inch cliff of fear that can feel a thousand feet high!  You can join the 100 Things I Fear challenge at any time.

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, courage, fear, goals, success

In this video {2:50} I laugh, I cry, I coach myself on the spot, and I share about 100 Things I Fear. Here’s the link that explains it all: http://www.cassandrarae.com/100-things-i-fear/

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, action, courage, fear, goals, Life Coaching, success

This past week I went to visit Pam

so that I could meet her new baby Rothko

and he is adorable!

Then we went out to lunch at Morrocco’s

great food & incredible decor

pretty chairs

plus the coolest lighting in the bathroom!

After lunch we walked through a beautiful church

And on the way back to the car we spotted a tranquil plaza nestled in between the sky rises

with a sparkly fountain

and we simply had to stop and enjoy it.

What a fabulous day with an awesome woman & friend. Thanks Pamela!

{Check out all my photos on my flickr stream}
{Visit our host Sarcastic Mom}

Tags: connecting, dining, dog, Fun & Friends, photography, Relationships, Weekly Winners

In this short video {2:55} I share about Champagne Friday – a weekly ritual I use to celebrate all that I’ve done for the week and allow it to be enough. Grab a glass, watch, and toast with me!

p.s. I got a haircut today & I love it! What do you think?

Tags: celebrate, relax, self esteem, success, VLOG {Videos of me!}