The Cage That Kept My Heart

by Tony the Misfit via Flickr

All talk eventually must boil down to work. If it doesn’t, nothing of value will ever be produced.

Unfortunately, 2011 was a great year for talk in my life. In fact I got so good at talking about my dreams, visions, and ideas that I had to hire someone to listen! I hired a coach who listened, pushed me, and set me up with a plan of work designed produced something of value & change lives. Then something really funny happened…

I could not talk anymore. Together, all my talking, brainstorming & my coach’s guidance had covered every angle & option related to my dreams. My dream had successfully been boiled down until the only thing left was a long list of work to be done.

Everything was set up & ready. My life’s dream was all mapped out & ready to follow. I was ready to succeed & live the life I have always wanted to live.

Then it hit… the fear. What if I failed? What if my life’s dream… my passion… my future… what if it all failed? Equally as scary, what if I succeeded? My plan… my business… my marketing… what if it all worked, but I was not good enough to produce the life I want so badly?

Fear stopped me in my tracks. I became paralyzed & unable to move under the weight of the only two options that stood in front of me. I feared going all-in with my heart only to loose it in failure & I feared putting it all out there only to find my heart was bigger than my ability to produce.

For the last 3 months I’ve sat scared stiff & done nothing. Rather than risk loosing my heart I chose to cage it & pretend my dreams were realized in the life I have now. It worked… for 3 months.

Presently, I write this after the cage I’ve kept my heart in has broken again. Fear is still present, but my heart is stronger & refuses to be kept in a cage. I must act. I must work. I must produce what I’ve been hiding from the world.

There are two types of people that will be reading this post. Ones that have freed their heart & serve the world with value & ones that have caged their heart for fear of loosing it to failure or success.

• If you’re the second please join me in making 2012 the year you free your heart. Contact me. Let’s work together in making sure our hearts don’t die of suffocation rather live in pursuit of their dreams.
• If you’ve freed your heart & serve the world with value, then be encouraged. Keep serving up value & changing lives. In addition reach out to someone with a caged heart & gently help them set it free.

To Our Freedom in 2012,

David J. Robertson