It was May and we just moved into a new house, not far from the old one, but across town. My son had to move away from some friends, go to a different school; just leave the life he has become so accustomed to. It was not easy.
Here comes summer. He’s sitting around the first week. Playing the iPad, iPod, watching some movies. Lazy days. “I’m bored dad.” If you have kids, you’ve heard this! The thing is, there are kids that live in the neighborhood; he just doesn’t know them yet. I asked him to go out and meet them.
Jack was 10.
He didn’t want to, he was scared he said. He was nervous. I let it be for a day.
The next day I knew he was still bored. See, my son is a go getter, he loves to be outside, he loves to do things. Doesn’t matter what it is, as long as he’s outside he’s happy. What he doesn’t like is to sit around.
The next day I told him it was time to go down there. He did. He needed the push.
He was back in about 5 minutes. I asked him: what happened?
He didn’t go to the door… he was scared. I sat down and talked to him. Asked him what he was scared of, why he was, how we could get past it.
His biggest thing, he doesn’t know what to say.
I told him it doesn’t matter. Say you are bored, say you just wanted to come say hi, say you wanted to see if he’d like to shoot baskets. We walked through all the different things he could say.
We sat down and developed a “script”.
I asked him to Do It Scared. He walked down again.
He spent the rest of the afternoon there. They kayaked on the pond, they had ice cream, they played Wii, they played outside, road bike and just had a fantastic day. When I went to get him he literally danced when he walked out. He jumped up and down. The joy on his face was something I will never forget.
He did it scared.
How many of us hold ourselves back from what will truly make us happy? We do what Jack did. We hide from it. We avoid it. We come back to what’s comfortable because that’s easier.
I learned from my 10 year old son that day that when we do it scared the life we are so used to might just change. It will get better. For you it may be money, friends, business, life, doesn’t matter.
Ask yourself in this very moment: what’s holding you back? What do you need to do that you have been putting off for days, weeks, months even years.
Knock on that door. Feel free to DANCE when it all works out.