A theme that continually comes up in my coaching sessions with those who desire to move forward in their life, whether in dealing with a stressful performance situation, or in life experiences in general, is the hesitation to go after what they truly desire.

It is the difference between passively allowing fear and anticipation to guide your decision-making rather than having an active orientation to life.

In your art, in a performance situation or in significant relationships, are you a person who goes after what they want?

Do you say to the world, “This is what I want. I’m going to go for it.”

Children, before they ‘learn’ to be afraid or avoid anxiety-producing situations, will bounce back whenever they hit a wall or roadblock because that is what little kids do – until we teach them not to do it, until we knock that fearless perseverance out of them.

They just go for it.

We need to be more like those children who, simply and without hesitation, just go for it. There are probably things you have always wanted to achieve or attempt, yet you came up with many, many reasons or excuses to not go after them.

A fear-based person waits for things to happen instead of making them happen.

I encourage you to make it your personal goal to become more spontaneous. I know that for many people, especially the more passive personality types, this can feel so challenging. Yet, risking being yourself is the foundation to creating emotional freedom in your everyday life.

I encourage you to begin to come out from behind the ‘safety’ of your self-imposed masks. Masks are basically what we put on in the morning, when we go to work, to church or to a social event.

Everyone has a mask that they put on. You put one on depending on who you will be around on a certain day, or what social activity you are going to be in. We all have different masks and you are not alone in wearing them.

The lie that we tell our self is that our masks will keep us safe, rather than the fact that they keep us from putting our self out there to achieve our goals and dreams.

Choose something today that you would really like to go after or accomplish and determine to make it happen. Do not wait for it because it is not going to come on its own, no matter how much you want it.

As I shared in a past post, one of my favorite quotes from Zorba the Greek,

“With a little madness, you can cut the rope and be free.”

Become a bit ‘mad’ and spontaneous.

Take off the mask.

Let go of your fear-based beliefs and the lies that you tell yourself.

Take charge with an active orientation to your life!

The post Have an Active Orientation to Life! first appeared on Dr. Nick Lazaris.