Into the Limelight... reclaiming the fearlessness of childhood

At the time of writing this, I have just returned from an evening out, watching my 8 year old daughter perform in the school ’Spectacle’

For the uninitiated, a ‘Spectacle’ is an end of term show at schools for the 11s and under With one in the summer and one at Christmas it’s an animated and chaotic evening of singing, dancing and celebration The kids have an amazing time while parents, friends and family watch on, enjoying every moment

The performances of the children ranged from the hugely skilled and enthusiastic, all the way down to the spectacularly indifferent, who were able to multi-task by singing, finding various interesting spots on the ceiling and picking their noses all at the same time I made that last bit up for comic effect, but you get the picture

What was really incredible to see though, was that regardless of whether a child had practiced dance routines for endless hours in the playground for months and months, or they had just got up to sing like there were a thousand more interesting things they could be doing, they all had one thing in common Every single child stood in front of a hundred eager faces and performed without an ounce of fear

So the question that jumped into my mind was - how many of us grown-ups would have, with such ease, got up in front of a large group of people and ‘performed’?

Some of you reading this will feel anxious at the very thought of standing up in front of a large group of people, never mind performing But just think about that for a second - the thought of standing up in front of a group of people can make you anxious!

Our fears can be so intense that just imagining something can make our hearts race and our palms sweat And what that tells us is that our fears are not really residing in reality but just in our minds That’s not to say that they aren’t real to us - we all know they are, but what it does tell us is that our fears are not a concrete and immovable part of our lives Of course, some fears are useful for our survival - being scared of poisonous snakes is no bad thing - but most of our fears and phobias are just something we would be better off without

After all, psychologists have discovered that we are only born with two fearsloud noises and falling Every other fear is learned along the way

So if you have any fears of phobias that are either holding you back or lowering your quality of life, the good news is that because you learned them, you can learn to unlearn them too!

Which begs the question - What fears would you like to see gone from your life?

You may never want to pick your nose in front of a hundred people, but imagine that freedom to do so!

Written by David Murphy - Clinical Hypnotherapist and Life Coach DavidMurphyHypno@gmail com