The bully on the playground, in the classroom or in the boardroom forces you to play or behave his way. Everyone is afraid of the bully so he gets his own way over and over again. But what happens when someone decides to confront the bully? More times than not the bully runs away or backs down.

The same is true for fear -- the bully that keeps you stuck in mediocrity and inside your comfort zone. What would happen if you faced down your fear? Is it possible the fear would go away? What might you find on the other side of your fear?

Honestly, I am not sure where I would be today without coaching. I know one thing for sure – alone and lonely! For many years I carried around a lot of self-loathing. Naturally, I didn’t realize that was what was going on, because my frustration and anger was directed outward – to all those people who weren’t doing things right.  I thought I was pretty subtle about these feelings as I never overtly confronted anyone, but I was really good with the sarcastic barbs. I could shoot those suckers with some true accuracy. Truly, I don’t think I was fooling anyone. I blamed everyone for my circumstances, I was unhappy all the time, which was illuminated when my daughter said to me “mom you’re never happy anymore” and I didn’t like being around people, because I could always find a reason why I didn’t like them.

Can you think of anyone in your life like that – always having a negative attitude, blaming everyone and everything for their current circumstances, always having something negative to say? I think we all have someone like that in our lives or recognize that in ourselves (even if you aren’t willing to admit it) – I know I wasn’t when my mother was kind enough to point it out – naturally I told her she was wrong.