Why “Fear Less”?  Why now?

Sometimes even the most amazing opportunities fill us with fear before we even consider the benefits that come with them. Such was the case with my decision to co-author my first book “Fear Less”.

Writing had never been on my “bucket list” as something that I needed to do. Sure, I can write—I attribute that ability to the importance that Dad placed on that skill throughout our grade school and post secondary education. But what did I have to say that the world would care about enough to read?

Flash back to March 2020. We had lost our Mom just 8 months earlier and were just starting to take stock of where we had been the past 2 years since Dad had passed in 2018, and where we were heading next. I was in Kelowna BC, visiting my sister Sharon and certifying as a Coach Practitioner; a new direction that I was taking my fitness business, when she suggested that I join her on a co-author opportunity with a group of women to write for a new book “Fear Less”.

I was intrigued, but what would I write about? Certainly, my life has had no shortage of fears, we all have them. The internal fears and insecurities that keep us stuck; born from experience or what we have been programmed to believe about ourselves; the fears that we can’t control and that require us to prepare for the unknown, like Covid-19 or our health and wellness; the fears that require monumental action to rise above, and the fears that we choose to lean into to experience something outside of our comfort zone.

So, I chose to lean in, push myself out of my comfort zone, and join this group of “Fear Less” authors. After multiple false starts, my chapter “Fear is a Gift” was born.

Write about what you know, that was my jumping off place. And what I knew for sure was that the journey that I had been a part of with my aging parents over the past two years was one that required me to not only help manage their fears, but to face my own. Thrust into the unfamiliar and oftentimes unfriendly world of aging, being responsible for the health and wellbeing of the two people I loved more than anything else in the world, and realizing that life is indeed finite, brought with it many fears that had to be met head on and conquered, sometimes daily.

We eventually lost the fight; right now, I’m trying to win the war. Aging is real, and with it comes challenges that are unexpected and sometimes life changing. My passion for fitness has evolved and my mission is to ensure that we all age with the good health, mobility, and vitality that we deserve has been ignited.

It wasn’t until I was writing the end to my chapter that I came to realize that fear is a gift. Without fearing the worst, my parents and my siblings and I could not have achieved our best. Had I not leaned into my fear and pushed past my comfort zones to write this chapter; I would never have realized that I did have something to say that the world would care about enough to read.

Enjoy!