6. Take a leap of faith

How many times have you heard the phrase 'take a leap of faith' and it made you roll your eyes or screw your face up sceptically? I know exactly how you feel!! "It's alright for them, they're not doing the thing", right?! Doing something based on trust alone can be scary. Where's the logic? the proof that it will work? the money at the end of your labour? I totally get it, that was me too! But, thanks to this podcast, I have finally understood what it means to back yourself and how freeing at can be when you stop stressing about the end point. If you feel like you're struggling to get off the starting blocks with your idea, it might be because you're too focused on what you want to achieve at the end. Take a listen to this week's episode and see if it helps you to shift your mindset...

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Your leap of faith…

…sounds big and terrifying but it doesn’t have to be. Promise. I kept hearing this phrase on repeat every time I came across a new self development book or podcast. Either that or “leap and the net shall appear” words to the same effect. Urgh. That BS again. Basically, go and do something that feels kind of right but simultaneously scares the shit out of you, having no idea what the consequences will be but trusting in some power greater than you that the outcome has been taken care of and is also likely worth the struggle. That’s a pretty big ask.

When I tried to relate this to creating my leather goods brand I assumed the real leap of faith was dealing with all the formalities of starting a business. I avoided them, then told myself no wonder things aren’t going too smoothly, I’ve still got one foot out the door here! 

To a certain extent this is true. Whilst I felt compelled to create and obsessed over the future of this brand, at the same time I felt such a huge resistance that I just could not bring myself to make it happen. I dabbled, I dithered, I pretended I was doing what lit me up and that one day it would begin to feel like a business rather than just a hobby.

But that moment never came and the more I tried to force myself to produce the goods or create the content, the more I began to withdraw from the vision…

Feeling despondent and a bit like a failure, I put my foot on the brake and waited for a surge of creativity to hit. When none came, I tried the opposite, surrounding myself with leather and fastenings and tried to coax it back through sheer willingness. Still nothing. In the meantime I drew an Oracle card called ‘The Crumbling’ which asked me “what do you need to let go of in order to move forward?” Erm, my leather work? I asked softly. 

OK then, let’s try this I thought. What have I got to lose? I stopped trying to come up with fantastic new designs. I stopped shutting myself in my basement to work only to return upstairs disappointed and deflated. And I stopped stressing over the sales I wasn’t making and beating myself up for not doing enough. 

I gave myself permission to try something new, without any attachment to the outcome. I dedicated more time to my coaching studies. I spruced up my dusty website and wrote new content for my blog, until then virtually untouched in the last couple of years. It felt good! And I decided that I had had enough of talking about ideas without ever bringing them to fruition too. I had to start that podcast I’d dreamt about 2 years ago…

Those first two interviews were hesitant conversations, riddled with nervous giggles, but already by the third I was beginning to feel like I could do this. It felt natural, easy and exciting all at the same time. I loved the fact I had carte blanche over the questions and I could quiz my guest on anything and everything! It wasn’t until after the recording ended that this particular guest asked me a question “how’s it going with your business?” It stung a little to admit that I’d all but stopped because it was feeling like an uphill struggle. But as I expressed my desire to focus on coaching, on doing more of what lights me up and the dream of starting my own podcast, I found myself uttering these words “it’s all a bit of a leap of faith really…” and then it hit me. 

Finally I was doing it. I couldn’t get there with the leather for whatever reason but I could now see how the podcast was exactly that: a dream to create something meaningful, with no guarantee that it would ever lead anywhere or produce an income, yet an inexplicable feeling that somehow it was the right step and crucially, an ACCEPTANCE that I would be unattached to the outcome whatever happened.

So here I am, having now recorded 5 episodes and a trailer, enjoying myself as i play host to wonderful people and exchange ideas that I hope will spark even more for my listeners. And above all, I get it now. I don’t mind where this goes because it’s fun to try and I’m curious to pursue the feeling.

Have you ever lived a moment like this? Is there something you’ve been putting off because you’re too scared it won’t work and too attached to the final outcome? Could you give yourself permission to just try and see where it goes, without the pressure of creating your life’s work or promise of any monetary return? There's a lot to be said for enjoying the process, (another super cheesy cliché I struggled to digest without being sick in my own mouth). However, if you can find something that truly makes you feel alive, you genuinely won't worry about the end result, you'll just lose yourself in the joy of doing it!! If you accept this challenge, let me know! I’d love to hear what you’ve decided you can now allow yourself to experiment with and enjoy more, when you remove the pressure of the end result...