Action Shrivels Anxiety
From across the hotel lobby I heard, “PUNCH IT MARGARET™!”
I nearly got whiplash as I whipped around to see who had just bellowed one of the taglines from my new keynote at me across the lobby of the hotel. I had heard of this happening to speakers, but it had never happened to me, until now! My mom was going to be so proud.
PUNCH IT CHEWIE was where it started back in the 1980 film “The Empire Strikes Back”, and it’s been used in many movies since then and by my brother and I as we were riding with my lovable and slow-driving grandmother. (hence the MARGARET part!)
Basically, it means GO, DO IT, MOVE, DO THE THING!
Dealing with change is scary. Humans are programmed to like SAME, because SAME means SAFE! We’ve survived it before, we know what to expect, so stick with that. But in life, in order to thrive, you’ve got to step into change, but again, that’s scary!
(Go to 0:31 in this montage. Feel familiar?)
You spend time thinking. You spend time worrying about all the bad things that might happen, (and hopefully reminding yourself what good could happen!) but eventually you’ve got to get off the porch of the comfort zone, and Dance in the Discomfort Zone…and that just takes one, small, itty bitty, teeny weeny terrifying step OFF the porch.
No matter how small, you have got to PUNCH IT MARGARET™! Take that step! Do the thing, or make the decision. It will be scary, but you’ve got this.
- Remind yourself of times you’ve succeeded.
- Remind yourself how far you’ve come.
- Remind yourself of all you’ve overcome and learned and survived
...and then PUNCH IT MARGARET™!
