Forget Fearless

Who knew that an artist would have the advice I needed to hear this week. 

My girls and their friends went to a Cape Cod stripes art workshop with an incredibly talented local artist, Carolyn Mackin. During the workshop the girls picked any colors of their choosing to make some fancy horizontal stripes. Anything goes for stripe thickness, amount of stripes, the way to apply the stripes onto the paper and number of colors. 

Basically, there are no rules. 

I came back towards the end of the workshop and one of my girls was looking particularly upset about her stripes. Carolyn and I asked her what she was thinking and she said she didn't like the bold, thick stripes she had put on her papers. Carolyn gave her some suggestions, but my daughter was still looking unsure, upset and a little frozen. 

Then, Carolyn gave the mic drop speech. 

She said, art isn't about being fearless. There's no such thing as being fearless. We all have our fears. Art is about working with those fears so we can let our inner creativity onto the page and experiment freely without letting our fear get in the way. 

Carolyn used a scraping tool and uncovered some lighter colors below my daughter's bold stripes and her artwork transformed. 

This art experiment made me think about how you and I very likely have fears about food and our bodies. There might never be a time when you don't hear:
"Am I doing this right?"
"What if I eat that and this happens?"
"What if I thought I wanted that, but then don't like how my body feels afterwards?"
"I'm just afraid to give myself permission because I don't trust myself to stop."
"What if people will judge how I look if I allow myself to be free around food?"
"I'm just afraid of what will happen if I don't follow the rules."

What if, what if, what if.....

You might never have zero fears about food, your body and your life going forward and that's ok. The most important thing is how you decide to relate to those fears. Will you let those fears take over your decisions? Will you let those fears become the guiding force in your life? Will you let those fears become the book of instructions that you refuse to put down? 

This week, can you allow your inner creativity to shine when it comes to food? Maybe steamed broccoli and chicken is getting a little old and you're ready to spice it up with a new recipe with ingredients that make your mouth water. Can you allow yourself freedom to move your body in a way that feels fun? Maybe dancing in your kitchen is what your body craves and you don't feel like listening to a spin instructor shout in your face. 

The bottom line is that we must face our fears, because fear isn't going away. 
Can you acknowledge your fear and let the real you come out like fresh paint strokes on a canvas?
What color do you want to be? Might as well make some bold stripes. 

Because there are no rules.