Day 5, What If the Thing You Fear Is the Thing That Sets You Free?
This week, while running through the bush in Phinda, South Africa, I was confronted by something I don’t often admit out loud: fear. Not dramatic, movie-style fear, but the quiet kind. The kind that whispers from the edges of your mind, filling in the blanks with snakes, wild animals, or unseen dangers. The unknown has a way of becoming far bigger in our imagination than in reality.
But here’s the thing: reality almost never matches the story fear tells us.
Once I started running, once I moved through the fear rather than around it, something remarkable happened. The world opened up, the air felt different and my senses sharpened. And instead of danger, I found presence, clarity, and an unexpected sense of freedom.
It struck me how often we hold back in life, at work, and in leadership because of imagined limitations. We talk ourselves out of applying for the role, initiating the conversation, delegating more, taking the opportunity, asking for support, or stepping into the unknown. Not because we’re incapable, but because fear convinces us that possibility is a threat rather than a teacher.
But the truth becomes clear the moment you cross that invisible line, on the other side of fear is information, perspective, connection and expansion. A reminder that you are far more capable than you think.
When we lead with curiosity, humanity, and a willingness to stretch beyond our comfort zone, we unlock the version of ourselves that leadership actually requires, the version built not on certainty, but on bravery.
So today, ask yourself “What fear is quietly holding me back, and what freedom might be waiting if I move toward it instead of away from it?”
Jo Hayes, Executive Coach
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