Be Fearless

Hi guys. I had to take a break from blogging because life has been a lot lately. But I turn 25 on Tuesday, leave for a holiday tomorrow, and work begins again in August, so hopefully, things start to look up.

Storytime:

At the end of 2018, I struggled a lot with self-love and confidence. I was going through a lot at the time and was just very unhappy with myself and my life back then. One day on Instagram, this actress, Caitlin Kinnunen, was doing a takeover for Beyond Type 1 for Diabetes Awareness Month. She showed what it was like to be on Broadway in The Prom Musical and deal with a health condition. After watching the videos and looking her up, I immediately fell in love with her (IYKYK). Caitlin had all the traits that I was lacking and wanted to gain. Having her as a role model helped me be more confident in myself, more outspoken, and more authentic/transparent. She was my main inspiration during all of 2019.

The most significant trait of her’s that I admired and wanted to gain was her fearlessness. She auditioned for Spring Awakening, got cast, and moved to NYC (with her mom) at 16. When I was 16, I was dancing in pre-pro ballets, but I was nowhere as confident in my dancing as Caitlin was (is) in her singing/acting.

So after many years of hard work, a lot of SelfStudy, and practice, I have come up with nine ways to be more fearless.

• Be aware of fear in your life. Everyone is scared of things, but before anyone can overcome fear, they must admit that they have it. For people like me, who deal with anxiety, perhaps fear is your “normal” state of being, which is quite a bit to overcome all at once. I suggest you write down some aspects of your life where you have fear; getting them down on paper is important because trying to simply think them through never works.

• Stare at fearless people and “act as if” you are them. Fill your brain with images of what you want your “future self” to look like. Connect with as many role models as possible, whether in person, through a book, or online. Create a vision board and place it where you’ll see it regularly. Use these examples as an energy source to combat your fear. If you have a specific character you see, be fearless, take notes about where they appear to do things without fear, and attack your fears with the same grit as them.

For example, I have no clue where this fear comes from, but I always feel uneasy when I have to go get bloods done. To combat this “fear” of mine, I “act as if” I’m my favorite fictional character. I pretend I am in their world, and getting bloods done is just one of the things I have to do. If the character is not scared, I can’t be either because I am them (for the time being). It sounds so silly, but trust me, it works.

• Be objective. Take some time to investigate your fears. Ask yourself questions such as: What thoughts generate your fear? Where do you feel the fear? How do you react to it? Etc. Try to be an objective observer of your own life.

• Be willing to look stupid. Remember: athletes fall all the time. I’ve fallen and messed up in dances countless times. Jennifer Laurence fell down when going up to accept her Oscar. Once you are willing to risk the emotional pain of making mistakes, you will shed more fear than you ever imagined. Know that making mistakes will help you obtain the information you use to create the thing you desire. Everyone who has ever done something great has failed more than once.

• Adopt a mindset of gratitude. I cannot even begin to explain how important gratitude is. Whenever you feel fear, try to feel grateful instead. I have a lot of auditions coming up this month, which is scary! Instead of freaking out, I have decided to be thankful for the opportunity to show my passion and talent for acting with so many people. They are there to genuinely listen to me speak and root me on. I think of every audition as just another opportunity to perform and that my worth/talent as an actor is not dependent on how many jobs I book. That makes going into them so much easier.

• Put things in perspective. Putting your negative thoughts in perspective is an excellent way to overcome fear. In the grand scheme of life, why are you afraid? While you are freaking out about something, life is moving on without you. Sometimes it’s helpful to remember this.

• Release control. Of course, we want to be in control, but when we relinquish it, we tend to free ourselves up. Allow yourself to make mistakes—after all, that’s where learning and growth happens. We learn from our failures, but we need to release control to fail.

• Think about the worst-case scenario. What’s the worst that could happen? I crumbled on stage in front of hundreds of people during dance performances. I still won an award; I lived. Life will out.

• Look within. What is the root of your fear? Meditate on it. Look inside and ask yourself when the fear started: How far back does your fear go? Did you have an early failure that has stuck with you? Explore it. That’s what life is all about.

I have gotten messages on Instagram from people wanting to be “like me.” If you know me in real life and want to know my “secret,” — it’s being fearless. It’s risking failure but trying anyways. But remember, don’t become a carbon copy of someone else. You are singular. Be Y-O-U!

I hope this post helped you. Please make sure you like, comment, and share this post. Follow me on social media (listed below). As always, sending you all the light and love in this world.