A good friend recently reminded me to do something that scares you every day. At first I took it to mean do something different that scares you each day – nudging yourself out of your comfort zone whilst adding a spice of variety. But as it turns out, facing the same fear day in day out, is a sure fire way of overcoming that fear, or, in my friend’s case, being able return a spider to nature without fainting.

Funnily enough mine is to do with talking.

I have been tackling something that’s scared me for as long as I can remember – talking about God. I don’t mean in a preachy kind of way, but just being open about my faith. I remember an emotionally charged song I used to sing with such a mixture of conviction and yearning, "I’m not ashamed of the one I love", and that’s what I aspire to I guess, being able to talk openly, frankly and authentically about my faith in a way that just says ‘this is me’ without being intrusive, sermonising or fanatical. So, I’ve been facing my fear, with baby steps to begin with and I find myself slowly moving away from terrified to hesitant and uncomfortable, and I have been blessed with some wonderfully open and full on conversations along the way.

Coincidentally my coach has challenged me to do the same thing with talking about my coaching. I guess they say repetition is a good way to learn, although this one is different on many levels. So as I awkwardly try to articulate and convey the essence of something that many people have either no idea or a very different idea of what it is, I am sure the more I just talk about it, the more comfortable and eloquent I will become over time.

Besides, doing something that scares you is rarely as scary as the fear itself.