Happy Sunday everyone! Did you know that Oprah Winfrey and I have something in common? Actually, we probably have a few things in common, but the thing that I am talking about is pretty epic. Wanna know what it is? We have both done the Firewalk!! If you don’t know what that is, then check it out here. It is only 4:44 mins long, but if you don’t want to watch the whole thing, fast forward to the 2 minute mark and watch the next 1.5 minutes. I did the very same thing on the night of Thursday the 14th of September, 2017 and it is a night that will forever be embedded in my memory.
Through a series of circumstances I was given the opportunity to attend a Tony Robbins event in Sydney called Unleash the Power Within and on the first night of that event, you are given the opportunity to do the Firewalk. Was I scared? Are you kidding? Of course I was freakin’ scared! I am scared about a whole lot of things and they have stopped me from doing so many things in my life over the years. Fear is what caused me to become so overweight in the first place and fear is what stopped me from successfully losing the weight the many many times over the years that I did try. Until the last time obviously. The main reason why I was successful in the end, was because the fear that was stopping me from losing the weight was no longer a fear for me. I know I am not the only one that has let fear stop them from doing things in their life and I am sure you can all relate in some way.
One thing I have learned and come to accept over the years, is that fear is never going to go away. If we really try though, we can overcome our fears and when we do, we feel utterly amazing. Just like I did on that very special Thursday night 10 days ago. I was scared all night in the lead up to it. People actually left before the Firewalk because they had decided they weren’t going to do it. I had decided that I was going to do my best to do it. When it came time, my daughter, her boyfriend and I all headed out to hop in a line. I was grateful that I had them there, because I felt that I had to lead by example so that they would also have the best chance of completing the Firewalk. Why was this so important? If you can walk on fire, can you imagine the self belief that you would have? As far as I am concerned, if you can walk on fire, you can do anything! I already had a certain level of self belief. I lost 100kg AND I ran a freakin’ marathon! Walking on fire though, is a whole different level. People have been seriously injured doing stuff like that. So as much as I already had some self belief, I still had a lot of disbelief in myself at times and this could be something that would really help that.
Anyway, getting back to the actual Firewalk. All 3 of us were in line. We had to have a partner, so my daughter was partnered with someone and they were in one line and I was partnered with her boyfriend and we were in line behind them. I wanted us to all try to go across at the same time, so we moved a couple of lines over and tried to keep pace with my daughter and her partner. All of a sudden, it was my turn and I started to panic. I stepped up and looked at the coals and felt the fear. Then I looked down and there was a big number 13 looking back at me. I didn’t realise that they had numbered the lines and that I had ended up in line number 13. I was born on Black Friday, 13th of June 1975 and the number 13 has always been my lucky number. The minute that I realised that I had somehow found number 13 amongst the darkness and noise and crush of 6000 people lining up to do this thing immediately calmed me down and I suddenly had no fear. That was my sign. My sign that everything was going to be ok. That I could do this thing and I stormed across those coals with strength and conviction and felt no heat under my feet whatsoever. I got to the other side and laughed and cried and knew without a doubt that I could indeed do anything. In the middle of my celebrations, I turned around to find my daughter’s boyfriend had just completed his Firewalk so we celebrated together and then went to find my girl. My daughter also did it. She fell off the side halfway along, but she stepped up to the plate and walked on those coals and I am so proud of both of them for not letting fear stop them from doing it. Following are photos of all 3 awesome firewalkers – not the best photos, but we weren’t really thinking about photos at the time!
I am sure that I will still struggle at times. Fear will always be a part of our lives. As Tony Robbins says, there is no courage without fear. It is like a muscle though – the more that we work to overcome it, the easier it gets, and I overcame it in a big way by doing that Firewalk and plan to continue to do so. Feel the fear and do it anyway – I highly recommend it!
Shari
xoxo
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