Ever done something
bold and thrilling and daring, then woken up the next day and thought, ‘what
the hell have I done?!’
I’m not talking about
a party flashback (although, God knows…). I’m talking about the big
life-changing decisions that force you into a frightening place of immense
vulnerability where your future no longer seems secure as it was. The result:
terror and regret. But mostly terror.
Yesterday I signed a
lease on a practice room at a holistic health centre in Inner West Sydney, from
which I’ll be offering reiki and angel card readings, two days a week. I’d been
talking about doing this for months, and I think everyone was as bored with the
subject as I was. It was time to put up or shut up. So I did. I put down a
hefty deposit and signed a lease which I’m bound to for a year. At the time I
felt emboldened, confident and optimistic. But within hours I had that gut-wrenching
‘oh-God-what-have-I-done’ feeling. I don’t need to tell you this is a
significant financial risk on my part. There’s also more than a small element
of emotional risk too – if I don’t get a healthy client base I’m going to look
and feel like a failure.
As the landlord was
asking me about my target audience (um, anyone with a pulse?) and my marketing
plan (don’t even know what that is), I suddenly realised I’m in way over my
head. I do not have a single client, and I don’t know the first thing about how
to get any. I know I’m good at energy healing and angel communication (well, so
my feedback indicates) but I also know ability and talent are immaterial if you
can’t get anyone to walk through your door.
Guys, this is
terrifying. The only thing keeping me from having a full-blown panic attack is
the faintest hope that this *just might* work out. And the sense that if I
don’t give it a go, I’ll always wonder whether it might have.
In a way, this
reminds me of last year when I quit Auckland and moved to Sydney – a decision which also defied logic and threw me into an uncertain future, both financially
and personally. And here I am again, staring at a foggy road ahead. Feeling
woefully unprepared, but mildly buoyed by some brilliant person's quote that goes
something like this: ‘No one is ever really ready for anything’. I’m whispering
that silently, and often, to my Richter-scale-level thudding heart.
I know how much is
riding on me backing myself and promoting my skills, and I’m genuinely unsure
whether I can do that. There’s only one way to find out.
