Adventure time! What are you waiting for???

I have to share with you a goal I had recently… Back in 2011 and 2012- I gave myself the challenge of trying something new every month and I held myself accountable for a year and a half. Everytime I accomplished a new experience, I COULD NOT wait to share the pictures with my inner circle and facebook page. I tried everything from White Water rafting (which I was terrified of) to sky diving. Sky diving didn’t scare me as much as rafting did.

The reason why I took on that month to month challenge is that I know that facing fear and obstacles show up in all areas of your life. If trying something new and outside of your comfort zone is thrilling and exhilarating in your personal life, I knew it would carry over into my professional life as well.

Good news- it worked! I started to see obstacles as simple challenges. I learned to face the fear in my head (which most times is just a lie that you’ve made up in the first place) into taking on the most serious of all challenges. I started to feel unstoppable…almost bullet proof.

When my boyfriend encouraged me to take up white water rafting back in the summer of 2011, I immediately freaked out. I’m not a strong swimmer or had any previous interest in becoming an experienced rafter. It wasn’t even on my bucket list! He took me to the Kern river in California. The locals call that river, the killer river because many tourists would take simple rafting devices down the river assuming it would be similar to a floating lazy river at the local water park until they hit class 4 and 5 rapids.

Well needless to say, I backed away out of fear. Fear is known to stand for False -Evidence -Appearing- Real. I clearly had some evidence buried in my subconscious about drowning while rafting. Did it happen to me before, no… but in my mind it was REAL. A lot of the time we face instances in our life where we mistake fear for intuition. That’s not always the case. Very rarely do we face life-altering challenges…they most likely come from a belief buried in your subconscious. (I will cover this topic more closely in later articles)

Back to the Killer Kern River… needless to say I did whatever it took to distract my boyfriend from engaging me on a white water rafting trip. I was relieved that he dismissed it for the weekend. I went home after our long weekend together very frustrated and disappointed with myself. I wanted to overcome this fear somehow but wasn’t sure how to make it happen. I reached out to a friend and NLP coach, Ira Scott from Long Island, NY. He helped me overcome this fear through a series of steps… needless to say within 2 weeks my boyfriend and I were on a half day trip for a class 4 white water rafting experience. I LOVED it! I enjoyed the entire day and it was apparent that my boyfriend was also enjoying this new experience with me as well.

I challenge you to walk through your own personal fears. You will feel bullet proof also. How can you take that exact feeling and duplicate it in other areas of life? Your career, personal relationships, your love life, even in simple basic everyday areas that you avoid. Ask yourself why do you run from that fear. If its jumping off of a mountain without a parachute, then yes… I’m on board and agree with that. But if its simple and its keeping you from what you truly desire in life.. .I encourage you- no… I CHALLENGE you to focus on the finish line…brush off that fear and embrace the courage that you are burying deep with in… ITS SO ….WORTH … IT!

Love you guys!
Karie Millspaugh
Abundance Coach and- river rafter aficionado!

PS The picture attached is a real picture of me and my man having a good time on the Kern River! He is holding his paddle in the air and I’m in a red helmet next to him- ALL SMILES!

 PPS Leave me a comment of a fear that you have overcome