Recognizing Fearless in Your Life

When you recognize fearless in your life – those moments in time when you did something impossible, outside your comfort zone, or unexpected – then you set a foundation for more fearless moments.

The little fearless moments count. The big fearless moments add to the reservoir. Every single time you dared, you were fearless.

#QuoteoftheDay

You are fearless.
You just have to learn
 to recognize fearless.
– Kathryn Lang

Moments of Fearless

My dad told the story about someone gifting him a pallet of pancake mix. It was in the early days of my parents’ marriage and my dad was thrilled to get the gift.

For those of you doing the math, that could have been as many as 7000 bags of mix. Even if it was only a tenth of that, it’s still a LOT of pancake mix.

My mom panicked. “I can’t make that many pancakes.”

My dad didn’t understand her panic. “Try other things. If it doesn’t work, we’ll throw it away.”

This is probably a good time to explain that my mom was a recipe follower and my dad never met a recipe he couldn’t ignore.

I have a lot of my dad in me. I would relish the opportunity to play with a pallet of pancake mix. Recently, a friend gave me several bags of lentils. I discovered you can make patties, taco “meat,” and lots of other meals from lentils. Just cook, add spices, and blend.

When I look back at my mom’s struggle, I realize that my willingness to try is a fearless moment

Fearless or Foolish

It didn’t take me long to realize the new job I had accepted was not the one they wanted me to work. The recruiter pitched encouragement writing, so I knew that it was a position custom-designed for me. The first day on the job was anything but encouragement. “You finish these tasks and then if you have time you can work on encouragement.”

The job description I was hired for shifted to something I could do but wasn’t my strong suit. I should have asked to re-evaluate then, but I wanted to make it work (and I’m more than a little competitive) so I pushed on.

They shifted the job description again and pushed encouragement words out of the picture. I should have quit then, but I kept on.

When you know in your heart that it’s time to turn around or shift tracks, or you no longer have peace in the path you are on, it’s not fearlessness that drives you to keep going. It’s foolishness.

If you are going to live bold, intentional, and purpose centered lives, then it will require fearless actions. If you get so tangled in much doing and stubborn determination that you don’t listen to your peace then foolish drives you into a ditch.

Dealing with Tomorrow

I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I do know who holds tomorrow. The even better news is that I don’t have to deal with tomorrow. It turns out, today will always be today. Tomorrow will always be one day away.

The biggest problem caused by tomorrow is that we give it too much focus.

I had a big event coming up. I planned for it and fretted over the details. A list hung on the refrigerator with a breakdown of what needed to be done each day leading up to the event. Anytime something was missed, I worried about how it would affect the event.

I cleaned, cleared, and dusted. I cooked, baked, and prepped.

When the event came along, we sat around the table, and my friend looked up in the corner. “Wow, that’s a big spider web.”

It turns out no matter how much you plan and fret, you’ll miss something. You can choose to let the fretting have the focus, or you can choose to enjoy the day.

Instead of cleaning out the spider web, I laughed with my friends and found joy in their laughter.

It took fearlessness to step up and host the event. It took fearlessness to accept that despite all of my work, I didn’t perfect the process. But mostly, it took fearlessness to remember that the moment with my friends – the today – was the most important day.

Fearlessness comes in many shapes and forms. When you see all the different ways you can be fearless and that you are being fearless, you’ll realize how powerful you really are.

How to Recognize Fearless

I watched as my husband took the stage as Scrooge – confident, comfortable, and in the zone. He was fearless.

I heard the woman stand up and testify about her past and how a relationship with Jesus had turned everything around – raw, real, and authentic. She was fearless.

I see it so easily in the lives of others, but ignore it in my life.

“Taking this step is amazing. You are so brave.” Someone pointed out their observation about my announcement. She thought I was fearless.

“You homeschooled for twenty years. You are so brave. I could never do that.” A lady commented when she heard part of my story. She thought I was fearless.

Fearlessness looks different from the outside in.

Listen to Others

It’s been said that you can’t read your label from inside your jar. You need someone who can see you from the outside to help you recognize the fearless.

Write It Down

Keep a record of the things others point out that they consider brave. When you are struggling to remember you are fearless, read what they saw in you.

Take a Second Look

Even if it’s not world-altering amazing, if someone sees a little fearlessness in it, maybe you should look at it from the outside in.

Credit for Fearless

We don’t give ourselves enough credit for being fearless. Being fearless is more than not running. More often than not, it is about just continuing. You have to see beyond your weaknesses and recognize how fearless you are in your strengths. Then keep feeding fearless until you recognize it even in yourself.

You are fearless. you just have to learn to recognize fearless.

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What does fearless look like to you?

Share how you are living fearlessly in your life.