Driving Blindfolded: Second Lesson Around Fear

In my previous blog post, I shared about my experience in driving blindfolded and my reminder that when we face any fear, we don’t just learn that we can do this one individual thing but rather, that we build our courage for doing the things that cause us to feel anxious and frightened.

I was also reminded that oftentimes fear exists more (sometimes ONLY!) in the anticipation.

Having been a part of past leadership cohorts, the orientation activity of blindfolded driving was no surprise to me. I also knew this year it wouldn’t be an option for me. There would be no pass.

I told more than one person how much it frightened me. Without a doubt, I had some anxiety around it.

Except once I was at the track, and especially once I was in the car and heard my first instruction from my team, it was actually FUN. I focused on what they were telling me, and I followed the directions. Well, followed them the best I could with a blindfold on!! Yes I did end up in the grass once (well, OK, maybe it was more than once!!)

But even ending up in the grass brought much laughter.

My fear was literally all in the anticipation.

When you are feeling fear around an approaching event, acknowledge it and then choose to focus elsewhere.

First, why live the experience four hundred and thirty-two times in your mind when you only need to have the experience once?

And second, chances are the actual event won’t be nearly as frightening as your imagination has led you to believe. You will have wasted tons of extra energy on the anticipatory worry that could have be directed to something more productive.

Lastly, allowing your fear-filled thoughts to go unchecked, you might miss out on an opportunity that is actually fun.

Yes, you just might miss out on something fun.

Adding new courage and fun stuff to your life is a good thing.

So always choose to drive.