Face Your Fears

                “So I combat my fears with a starting-down ritual, like a boxer looking his opponent right in the eye before a bout.”(22) Like Twyla says in her book The Creative Habit, we all have fears that get in the way of her true potential, but to face them we must first define them.  To practice this she has given us an exercise to do which requires just that; putting a name to our fears.

                With most things in life everyone has those fears in everything they do. They always remain in the back of our minds as a constant reminder of what could go wrong. For me personally it depends what I’m doing with which fear is holding me back. When presenting a school project my fears are 1. That I’ll look stupid 2. I’ll blurt something out that makes no sense 3. Everyone can see how nervous I am 4. I won’t do the best I can.  These are the fears associated when I do anything related to presenting projects, or talking in public. When I’m about to do a solo or perform in a dance recital the fears that constantly run through my head are 1. I’ll forget the whole routine 2. I’ll fall or hurt myself 3. I’ll look like a bad dancer 4. I’ll recognize someone in the audience and get 10x more nervous. Taking a closer look at all these fears, it shows me that they’re taking away from my true potential. They stop me from achieving my very best and that shouldn't happen. Now when I do things with fears in the back of my mind, I will take them and try and prove myself wrong, by doing my very best and really not caring what everyone else thinks.  Like Twyla says, “There’s nothing wrong with fear; the only mistake is to let it stop you in your tracks.”(32)