Recently I started watching a few of the episodes on YouTube of the Cobra Kai series. If you’re not familiar with it, this is kind of the remake or mock of the old Karate Kid show, where they bring back Daniel LaRusso and his archrival. Back when they’re in their 40s, and its actually pretty funny and I like it. But one of the things that the Cobra Kai teach is one, Cobra Kai never die. The second one is not to be fearful. In other words, to face your fears, right? To come at it with a sense of gusto, whatever life brings to you.
And it reminds me. It reminds me of a time when I was traveling through Tibet. Now, I traveled through China, through Tibet, and I landed in Nepal. I say landed, we actually took a jeep through the whole Himalayan mountains and we ended up in Nepal. I’m walking around the market in Nepal, and there was a snake charmer sitting there just like you would see in the movies with a basket. There were a couple guys sitting around, and they had a little flute. He wasn’t playing it at the time. He opened the basket, and out came a cobra. A king cobra with a gigantic mane. And I walked over and I looked at him. We couldn’t speak and we’re looking at him, and I walked over, and he pet the cobra on its mane. I went over there right away, and instinctively I reached my hand out and I slowly caressed this animal. This animal typically I’d be fearful, but for some reason, I wasn’t afraid. It was absolutely amazing.
Now, stupid? Perhaps. But a calculated risk in the sense that I had actually assumed that nothing was going to happen. I was also in my early 20s and traveling around the world I’ve experienced things like this many, many times. Now, what does that have to do with you? Well, here’s the lesson that I learned. Oftentimes when I’m facing something, whether it be going into a boardroom meeting that’s kind of like a shark-tank type environment or it’s coaching a high-level CEO of a big business, or it’s doing something else in life. Maybe it’s something that’s daring: a hike, swimming with sharks, which I did last year.
Whatever it may be when I have fear overcome me. Fear overcomes me, whether it be large or small, I remember that cobra snake. I remember the feel of his mane as I caressed him. I remember the look, looking right into his eyes as close as you can imagine. Only a couple inches away. Now, he could have struck me and probably incapacitated me and maybe even killed me, but the fear. The fear is the flip-side of excitement, right? They’re two sides of the same coin. On one side we have fear, and we flip it over, we have excitement. What’s the difference? Well, it’s breath. It’s taking a breath and going into it, right?
And so, what I invite you to do is grab your journal. Write out your five to thrive. What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of in the area of your mind? I’ve spoken about a client of mine who had a story that he wasn’t smart enough. And he was actually one of the smarter people I’ve ever met. But his story wasn’t smart enough, so he was afraid to read in front of people. He was afraid to present on subjects, when he actually was an expert. What is your fear? Overcoming his fear allowed him to step into his light and help so many other people, grow his business, establish a firm relationship with his baby’s mom, and also grow his friendships way beyond what he had, where he thought was possible. Simply because he faced his fear. He pet the cobra. I invite you to do the same.
Where are those fears lying in your life? Where can you face the cobra and actually step into the fear rather than hiding from it and actually crouching down? Remember, the Cobra Kai never die. That’s it from me today. Remember to share this with at least three other people that you know that you want to have conversations that matter. And if you’re somebody that got sent this by somebody? Hey. You have somebody who cares about you and wants to have conversations to help grow their journey and yours. That’s what the Author of Your Own Story lifestyle is all about. Here I am in my adventure van, traveling right now, and I wanted to get this out to you. Have an amazing day. Remember, go out and be the author of your own story. I’ll see you later.
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