One day, you will be given an incredible opportunity.  It may be a new job, or an acceptance into a great school, or an invitation to perform or speak in front of an audience.  Your friends will cheer, your family will feel great pride to hear about this new opportunity, and you will smile and thank everyone for the encouragement, but deep down inside, you will have a feeling of dread.  You will be afraid.

Let me remind you now that with any great opportunity come feelings of unease…a fear of failure, a fear of success, fear of the unknown and feelings of inadequacy.  You may feel that you are being pushed so far past your comfort zone that you cannot succeed, but this is when you must remind yourself that you wouldn’t have been chosen for this great opportunity if others didn’t see your potential.  You CAN rise to meet this challenge, and you WILL thrive, if you just believe.

This past week, Laura and I traveled to Boulder, Colorado to film five instructional yoga videos for Gaiam.  It was overwhelming to know that a company like Gaiam, with its vast wellness empire, would be interested in being affiliated with two yoga moms from New Jersey.  It all felt surreal, and it stirred up all sorts of doubt in our minds.  What if we didn’t sound good on camera?  What if no one liked the videos?  What if we are unable to project our true personalities because we are so nervous?  The insecurities were abundant, but we pushed forward anyway.  We planned our sequences, filmed test videos, chose our clothing, and boarded the flight to Boulder.

What we found when we arrived at Gaiam just a few short hours later was comforting. The air was fresh, the surrounding mountains were picturesque, and the familiar stress of New York City was thousands of miles away.  We were greeted by friendly faces that felt more like a big family than a big company. This certainly was not the fearful, intimidating environment that I had pictured in my head.  Imagine if our fears stopped us from pursuing this opportunity?  We would have missed out on this amazing experience.

Yes, the filming of the videos was still nerve-wracking.  And yes, it was hard work, but in the end, we tolerated the fears and feelings of discomfort, and we overcame them all. The feelings of inadequacy were just that—feelings. We were prepared, and what we brought to the table was enough.

Sometimes, you just need to muster up the courage to move forward.  Push right through that comfort zone and into the unknown.  Take risks, overcome your fears, and you will see that you are much stronger and much more capable than you ever thought you could be.

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.