My husband and I went to see The King’s Speech yesterday, starring Colin Firth. It’s about King George VI becoming King of England when his brother abdicated the throne to marry an American divorcee. He had a major obstacle to overcome before he could be effective…or accepted...in leading the nation and people he loved through war. It was a fabulous movie and exactly the movie I needed to see in order to write this post. You see, last week I decided I was going to do an interview series based on people over-coming their fears. I’ve lined up several amazing people who are willing to talk to me about this topic and how it changed their lives...
...And I'm afraid I won't be able to pull it off.
I love hearing about others’ lives and how they navigate them, but I don’t know how to interview! How do I create questions beforehand? How do I get the person to open up and really spill the beans? How do I present it to my readers? All these questions and fears about the process and delivery of said process…But that’s what this series is about – navigating through the fear - authentically - and it's important.
Often, we see successful people doing successful things and our minds tell us it must have been easy for them. But is that true? Especially in this era of social media, we usually show our best face, put our best foot forward, hide our weakness, hide the process of growth required to be successful - as we define success.
King George the VI had a terrible stammering problem…FROZEN with fear. How familiar is that – other words to describe it? …stuck, overwhelmed, not ready. Yet the process King George goes through to correct this problem – has to go through to lead a nation at war – does not include the elimination of fear, but acknowledging it, revisiting it, relying on supportive people, getting wise counsel, laughing at it, getting angry at it, and, especially (and especially funny) cussing at it!
And that’s what my interview series will be about. We are going to hear the stories of some pretty courageous people - ordinarily courageous – super-heroes in a quiet and powerful way. They show the heart of fear and courage, the steps one takes to get to the other side of fear - learning to make fear, if not an outright friend, at least a tolerable acquaintance. Because we all know it will visit us again and again in this lifetime.
And even though most of us are not leading nations, we are leading our lives.
Stay tuned and join me for my first interview – in whatever format it is shared – as I talk to Sarah Bamford Seidelman, Life Coach, about her journey from respected Successful Practicing Physician to major woo-woo Queen of Animal Totems, Squirrel Radio. It’s bound to be an enlightening, admirable, courageous and normal story of a modern-day hero.
How did you get to your hero status? What fears did you stare down? What is it like on the other side? I’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below or email me here.