The only rule for menu #5 on the Joy Diet is that it has to scare the pants off of you.  Or involve escape of some sort from the status quo.

Any tiny step will do.  As long as it includes walking up to fear, staring it in the eyeballs and saying hello.

Why in the world would you want to do that on purpose?

To break free from “comfortable” and make your dreams come true.

If you’ve been following this blog series on The Joy Diet, you have uncovered a heart’s desire and been noodling on some creative ideas about how to reach it.   Taking a risk and putting those ideas into action often comes coupled with the fear.  It’s where the rubber meets the road and the action toward your desire requires a leap of faith.  A leap of faith that might have already been met with stall tactics, stunted by fear and stuffed down with cookies.

For some people, allowing the feeling of fear to settle in their body is the first tiny step. Allowing any feeling to settle, for that matter, could be a starting point.

Let’s use the desire to lose weight permanently as an example.  If you gained weight due to emotional eating tendencies, my guess is that the idea of not eating to immediately calm a powerful emotion (like fear) can be just as scary as jumping out of a plane with an untested parachute.

If this is the case, allowing yourself to FEEL FEAR for a few minutes without eating can change your life.

Other tiny steps could include contacting someone you admire in your desired field if you want to change careers.

If you don’t want to go to a social engagement, say no.  Even if social pressure says you should.

If you do, say yes.  Even if you’re shy.

And, by all means, attend your next high school or college reunion.

I stepped twenty years back in time to my Rhodes College days this past weekend.  I relived memories that had been suppressed, faced friends who know way too much about my past and felt every insecure emotion well up as if I were 18 again.  All without the “I’m-going-to-live-forever” invincibleness of a teenager to offset those less than stable thoughts.

Sounds painful.  Why in the world would I do this?

One of my heart’s desires is to stay connected with my dear true friends.  I am learning not to let fear get in the way of an opportunity to hug them and have in-person, soul-filling catch up time.   Facebook is wonderful, but it just isn’t the same as laughing together over old and new memories.

As an added bonus, I was able to meet the grown up version of many wonderful people who I, otherwise, might have never seen again.  I also met the grown up version of me working backwards through my story of the past twenty years.  I am so grateful for that story… insecurities and all.

Take a risk.

As my friend and mentor Michele Woodward says, “Expand your comfort zone.”

Move toward something that fills your heart.

I dare you!