The five of us were now back in the same room after the kids’ overseas adventures.
So we sat down to enjoy a meal together at the dining table.
We were just about done when my middle child pipes up and says…
“Don’t look!”
Of course, we all did.
Our oldest turns to see where her finger is pointing.
“What? Look at wha—aaaa—”
—AAA—AAAAAAH?!?!
Before we knew it…
She’d gapped it to the living room.
Her face white as chalk.
We turned back to see the innocent smile. And an index finger busily jabbing in the direction of the giant window.
As our eyes tracked downward, we too spotted the wispy spiderweb in the bottom left corner.
And there… still clearly visible… was the glistening black body of the eight-legged beast that inhabited that nook.
This was the arachnid that propelled my daughter into the next room.
Some choice words came next.
Reminding our girl she should know better than that…
Especially when her sister is TERRIFIED of spiders!
Now, her motivation wasn’t evil (this time)… because this child loves critters. (She even forbade us — or tried to — from removing them from inside!)
She was simply excited by a new one she had spotted.
It took a few minutes…
But things calmed down.
And the parents insisted that THIS spider would have a far better life OUTDOORS (thank you every much!)
This kind of fear can cause such a visceral reaction 🕷😱🏃♀️
If you experience it, you just can’t help but getting away. As fast as you can.
It makes sense if there’s a creature that can do you bodily harm. Not so much, if it’s small, and harmless. (Like most spiders in our country.)
Phobias like this are called “irrational fears” for a reason. But they can still cause these fight-or-flight moments of HIGH stress.
It can be a problem if we have a phobia of something that’s critical to our business.
Because if we’re racked with fear over it. It can cripple our ability to generate income.
Fears can arise with email marketing.
I’ve had plenty of them myself.
Voices that say…
“Who are you to write emails? You’ll make a fool of yourself!”
“You’ve had so many failures in your life. This is just going to be another one!”
“Other people are doing this SO much better than you. So why bother?”
Fears of not meauring up or doubting our ability can put MASSIVE roadblocks in the way. Sometimes even paralyse us. But…
Fears are NOT insurmountable!
Hey, I’m proof of that.
This is the guy who couldn’t bring himself to write ANY words. Even though he was a writer!
He was SO crippled with fear of writing the wrong thing. Or spending time writing down something that wouldn’t be used.
Such a perfectionist mindset. But also fear of other people. And what they’d think.
That fear is now history.
It took taking the plunge into some mighty icy water by saying, “Right! I’m going to do it! No matter what!”
So I started writing daily email.
Here I am, having just clocked in at over 200,000 words.
Plus, I’ve now written a heap of other stuff besides my emails.