Sometimes You Literally Need to Drive Through Fear and Doubt
Action can move you through and beyond your comfort zone in amazing ways.
I’ve been fighting a mental block for a while now. Said block has been holding me back, keeping me from taking steps that will get me to the next level I seek to reach in my life.
This block has led me to do more with my meditation and mindfulness practices, into therapy again, and to do more to work out how I got here and what I can do to move past this place.
I know I’m not the only one to deal with this sort of thing. Many people face challenges when they work on finding and walking their paths in life. What I’m choosing to do might not work for everyone, and my blockages might be similar to yours, but they’re still unique to me.
But I wanted to share an experience that required active, conscious awareness and was unexpectedly enlightening.
I drove through my fear and doubt. Literally. However, before I get into that, let me share some additional background.
What’s blocking me?
I am on the cusp of publishing my 22nd novel. Not bad, right? This is the lead of a new series for me, and though it’s still sci-fi, it’s a new universe with new characters and so on.
This is always exciting. But before I share it with the world, I’m working on new ways of promoting it. That’s because it’s clear to me that one reason that I’ve not made more money and gained more notoriety for my work is insufficient promotional actions.
How do I move this forward? How do I expand it? Not entirely sure. Save one important thing: I need to step out of my comfort zone.
That means I need to try something I’ve never done before. What does that look like? Not sure yet. The key, however, is that I can’t be afraid of what I’ll come across or face. To get from here to there, I need to break free from this comfort zone.
What’s blocking me is the fear of the unknown. What will it take to break out of this place and find a new one? How will I need to put myself out in the universe in ways that I’ve never done before?
The key is this: No matter what I do, the worst that can happen is I fail. And while that would suck, any suffering I imagine is worse in my imagination of what might befall me. Because this is not a matter of life or death. It’s about facing uncertainty and driving myself emotionally, mentally, and spiritually through my fear and doubt.
And it just so happens I have a literal example of succeeding at this available to share.
Driving through my fear and doubt for real
For a long, long time, I’ve wanted to cross an ocean. I’ve never managed to do that. Until now. My wife and I took the plunge, bought the tickets, and got ourselves across the pond to England.
As part of where we wanted to visit on this first-ever cross-ocean voyage, our best option to get from point A to point B to point C (point A being London, point B being Stratford-upon-Avon, and point C being Bath) was to drive.
In England, the steering wheel is on the right, not the left – like I’ve been used to for more than 38 years as a licensed driver. And then, as if that’s not enough entertainment, they drive on the left side of the road rather than the right. Oh, and one more thing: Lots of the roads in England are super narrow. And there are a ludicrous number of roundabouts along the way. Like, seriously, every 10 miles or so.
Scary. Wrong side of the car. Wrong side of the road. Oh, and all while driving an unfamiliar rental car. My fear and doubt made me super nervous.
The car we rented was a Peugeot – a French brand I haven’t seen in the US in decades. It was an SUV that was a bit smaller than a Honda CRV. Nice car.
Okay. I can do this. Fear and doubt be damned.
We get on the road. I was a bit white-knuckled for a time. But then I started to relax, some. Then my first roundabout made the fear and doubt double. Then it was gone.
In the end, I found myself grinning as I drove with confidence, excited about where I was going, far from home. So, yes, I literally drove through my fear and doubt.
Fear and doubt are bullshit
To be fair, shit could have gone wrong. I might have misjudged where my left side was. It’s possible I could forget and drive on the wrong side of the road. Maybe I’d make a mistake and wreck the rental.
Yup, all the worst-case scenarios sucked. But I did it anyway. I told fear and doubt to fuck off, and you know what? I felt exhilarated. As I drove from Salisbury to Bath, I was grinning and singing along with the insane 360+ music mix my wife and I have, and loving my life. Fear and doubt? Still there, still in the back of my mind. But I was behind the wheel. I did it. And it was amazing.
I’ve driven in the US in every form of weather imaginable in every part of the country. And now I have driven in the UK successfully. If I can do this, and drive a freaking car through fear and doubt out of my comfort zone, I wonder what else I can do?
The challenge is half the fun. Scary? Yes. But in the end, I’ve had an amazing experience I will never forget, and I can look at that drive straight out of my comfort zone and know that I can totally do it again.
As I face fear and doubt to break out of the latest blockage, I can look back on this action and know I have done it before. I can do it again.
What do you do to overcome fear and doubt?
This is the seventh-hundred-seventieth (770) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share my philosophy because I desire to make a difference in the world and help as many people as I can to find their empowerment with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to share and/or repost where it might do good for you and others.
The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available here.
Also, please check out my author website for the rest of my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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