TBK Tells - Feel the fear and do it anyway

 

                          Recording my first ( and last!) CD for charity in 2000

In my life I have tried to follow the mantra that Susan Jeffers wrote about in her excellent book “Feel the Fear and do it anyway”. The idea is that you should take on a new challenge each day. It might be scary at first as it’s new and change takes balls , but it will be worth it in the end. We do not grow as people if we stay in our comfort zone doing the same thing over and over, like in the movie “  Groundhog Day” . There is no point living our career by delivering the same English lessons day in day out for 30 years, and then wonder why your pay grade is not increased.

Let me give you some examples from my life:

•        Abseiling off a bridge into a cold river in mid-winter on a team building course with Business Post in the UK back in 1999 ( I am scared of heights)

•        Caving ( I am claustrophobic) on the same course and going through the Postman’s box from the floor of one cave to the roof of another, and nearly getting stuck . After the Instructors , Dave and Cokie from ELM , told me one man had a heart attack here and died, blocking the escape route for the other cavers.

•    Recording my first ( and last CD) ( see picture at the top of the Blog)

•        Learning to fish ( In Scotland in 2000) 

•     Moving to the Middle East- my first day at Bapco in 2010

•       Making presentations as part of the Wellbeing 2020 programme  at Bapco in front of 200 people including the then CEO, Pete Bartlett

    Receiving my gift from Pete after my presentation on how I fought Obesity

• Having my Hip Replacement in Bahrain in 2020

•        Delivering courses on line during COV 19


•        Completing my PADI open water diving course in Oman in 2021

      And now, the biggest challenge of them all -Moving to the Philippines

I could go on. There have been daily small challenges too after my Anak’s all went home to vote leaving me alone in the Big Blue House. I had to learn how to:

•        Get drinking water ( from a shop down the road where they refill your 5 litre bottle for 25 pesos

•        Get Chicken (Manok- 350 peso) and Pork (Liempo= 280 peso ) cooked on a rotisserie over charcoal a few roads away

•        Eat Rice soup and Egg for breakfast (Lugaw and Itlog) with Chalsee and Kit when they stayed

•        Finding my way to and from my house without TJ navigating

•        Driving to and from Sibaltan alone (7 hrs.) for a wedding

•        Showering in Barutaan (cold and no running water!)

•        Getting load for my phone and Wi-Fi

•        Building my two fans ( no AC in the office here)

•        Climbing a ladder to turn the curtain rail around so the curtain was the “right way around”

•        Learning and practicing my Tagalog

 I have not finished yet. I have many more challenges ahead:

        Learning how to improve my video and photography skills with Luis

•        Learning how to edit my own Vlogs with Luis

•        Cooking in my new house

•        Getting a dog, again

                                            Bailey in Port Barton

•        Scuba diving off Palawan

•           Eating Balot!

Guess what? I am really looking forward to every challenge!

What are you afraid of?

Feel the Fear and do it anyway!

Ingat Palagi