Artwork by Azizi Blissett, copyright 2008 by Azizi Blissett
Fear. It grips us in ways unimaginable. Recently, my position as a Marketing Manager at an IT marketing company was eliminated. The company’s revenue decreased by over $1M in 2014 which forced the owners to cut expenses to sustain the business. I had a fleeting moment of fear that seeped in, then my mind began to imagine the possibilities of the future.
In 2007, I started two businesses, a for-profit LLC and a non-profit entity for which I eventually secured 501©3 federal tax-exempt status. I managed to operate both businesses with a relative level of success for a few years. However, the financial and emotional setbacks I had experienced after a challenging divorce, coupled with a record-breaking Great Recession, forced me to make some tough choices. As a result, I decided to seek full-time employment with a company that could use my skills and business acumen. When I accepted the position at the IT marketing company, I remember making a promise to myself that I would not abandon my dreams of entrepreneurship. I committed in my heart that a dream deferred would not be a dream denied. In almost 4 years, I was able to reposition not only my financial well-being but also my overall value and self-worth.
I grew accustomed to shifting my energy from full-time work during the day to coaching clients in the evening, participating in teleseminars toward my coaching certification, directing and producing a TV docu-series, to writing an inspirational chapter about my life story in a collaborative book due out April 23rd. There were also times where I would facilitate workshops through my nonprofit then shift my attention to work with web designers to rebrand both my LLC and nonprofit websites. Whew! It’s unbelievable how much I was managing.
I felt a sense of relief on my last day of work. At the start of the new week, I began to move on. Then suddenly things felt different and the fear came back, but on a deeper level. Somehow I allowed my mind to believe that I couldn’t succeed and that I would end up homeless–which I am far from. On a whim, a recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn to interview for the exact same position I’d held at my last company, but with a new company and with more pay. I accepted the interview and both sides agreed it was a good fit. I was told that I would hear something within the next couple of days. After a few days, I reached back out to the recruiter and learned that even though the company thought I was a good fit, they decided to pass on bringing me onboard.
I had a much-needed emotional meltdown. I decided to allow myself to feel the fear and whatever other emotions that surfaced. I realized that I truly didn’t want the position. I only wanted the security of not being homeless. I saw it for what it was. Fear. Nothing more. Nothing less. Then I gave myself permission to release the fear and resistance and move on.
Now I am living in a space of allowing and trusting in the possibilities of all that is to come. I am very clear about the future I want to create for myself. And I am fully capable of doing so. I learned that what we focus on expands, as the Law of Attraction reminds us. I decided to shift my perspective from what I didn’t want to what I did want to create for my life. Now I am choosing to focus on all that I have accomplished along the way and where it might lead me.
I share my experience as an inspiration to you. Remember, you get to choose the life you want to create each moment along your journey. Will you live in fear? Or will you live in the possibilities? Your freedom is in the possibilities as you find the courage to embrace the unknown and create your future.
Fear. It grips us in ways unimaginable. Recently, my position as a Marketing Manager at an IT marketing company was eliminated. The company’s revenue decreased by over $1M in 2014 which forced the owners to cut expenses to sustain the business. I had a fleeting moment of fear that seeped in, then my mind began to imagine the possibilities of the future.
In 2007, I started two businesses, a for-profit LLC and a non-profit entity for which I eventually secured 501©3 federal tax-exempt status. I managed to operate both businesses with a relative level of success for a few years. However, the financial and emotional setbacks I had experienced after a challenging divorce, coupled with a record-breaking Great Recession, forced me to make some tough choices. As a result, I decided to seek full-time employment with a company that could use my skills and business acumen. When I accepted the position at the IT marketing company, I remember making a promise to myself that I would not abandon my dreams of entrepreneurship. I committed in my heart that a dream deferred would not be a dream denied. In almost 4 years, I was able to reposition not only my financial well-being but also my overall value and self-worth.
I grew accustomed to shifting my energy from full-time work during the day to coaching clients in the evening, participating in teleseminars toward my coaching certification, directing and producing a TV docu-series, to writing an inspirational chapter about my life story in a collaborative book due out April 23rd. There were also times where I would facilitate workshops through my nonprofit then shift my attention to work with web designers to rebrand both my LLC and nonprofit websites. Whew! It’s unbelievable how much I was managing.
I felt a sense of relief on my last day of work. At the start of the new week, I began to move on. Then suddenly things felt different and the fear came back, but on a deeper level. Somehow I allowed my mind to believe that I couldn’t succeed and that I would end up homeless–which I am far from. On a whim, a recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn to interview for the exact same position I’d held at my last company, but with a new company and with more pay. I accepted the interview and both sides agreed it was a good fit. I was told that I would hear something within the next couple of days. After a few days, I reached back out to the recruiter and learned that even though the company thought I was a good fit, they decided to pass on bringing me onboard.
I had a much-needed emotional meltdown. I decided to allow myself to feel the fear and whatever other emotions that surfaced. I realized that I truly didn’t want the position. I only wanted the security of not being homeless. I saw it for what it was. Fear. Nothing more. Nothing less. Then I gave myself permission to release the fear and resistance and move on.
Now I am living in a space of allowing and trusting in the possibilities of all that is to come. I am very clear about the future I want to create for myself. And I am fully capable of doing so. I learned that what we focus on expands, as the Law of Attraction reminds us. I decided to shift my perspective from what I didn’t want to what I did want to create for my life. Now I am choosing to focus on all that I have accomplished along the way and where it might lead me.
I share my experience as an inspiration to you. Remember, you get to choose the life you want to create each moment along your journey. Will you live in fear? Or will you live in the possibilities? Your freedom is in the possibilities as you find the courage to embrace the unknown and create your future.
Azizi Blissett, Law of Attraction Life Coach and Founder and Executive Director of zFusion, is a guest blogger and coauthor of F.A.I.T.H. – Finding Answers in the Heart, Volume II. To pre-order your copy of this inspirational book, click here.
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