It can be hard going outside my comfort zone.

Have you ever started something then fell flat on your face? I know I have, many times.  What I’ve learned is this:

It’s okay to start projects that I don’t feel totally ready for.  Stretching myself to reach outside my comfort zone is critically important to my growth and journey, and is a big part of my mission and purpose.

The process teaches me how to fail, how to make mistakes, and not to be afraid to go for what I really want and feel guided to do.

Mistakes are what we do, we’re human. It’s how we go about fixing them that matters and what we learn from them that can make all the difference.

I’m a seeker, a pioneer, and sometimes I’m outstanding in my field.  Most all of the projects I’ve taken on have scared me silly but I did them anyway.

For instance, when I first started interviewing celebrities, I didn’t have any idea what I was doing.  That was well outside my comfort zone! But I had a dream, a vision and a hope that I could do it.

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Nobody gave me permission.

I didn’t receive an invitation. Honestly, I was terrified to put myself out there.  It felt like a beginning trapeze artist without a net.

I woke up one morning with the idea burning inside me, and I took a deep breath, and I bravely decided not to wait until I was ready. Almost dizzy with nerves, I made the choice to do it anyway.  I took the next step and picked up the phone.

To date, I’ve interviewed almost 60 celebrities! It’s been an amazing and wonderful experience, and is opening doors for me that would have never have been there if I hadn’t gathered the courage to try.

The Real Dr Doolittle Show™ has had almost 100,000 hits/downloads, and I get emails almost every day from listeners telling me what a difference listening to the show made for them.

That would never have happened if I’d waited until I was ready, never venturing outside my comfort zone or waiting until I felt 100% prepared.

I recently had a dream that I could teach animal lovers all over the world how to communicate with animals in ONE weekend in a virtual retreat. To my knowledge, that’s never been done before.

It wasn’t easy.

I had to figure out how to use brand new technology and procedures, develop new coursework from this unique perspective, and determine how to provide a rich learning environment so students could learn what they most wanted and needed to know in the time we had.

I’m delighted to report that I accomplished all that and much more in an Animal Communication System Virtual Retreat!

The students had a great experience  one student from Italy even used the word phenomenal!

They told me they were blown away by the richness and depth of the material, how quickly they progressed from complete newbies to having remarkable conversations with animals, and how many wonderful goodies and golden nuggets they took away.

Many had even taken other workshops and gone away disappointed I’m so proud of them for giving themselves and their dreams another chance.

If I could give you one gift, it would be this:

Follow your heart’s passion and guidance, and start things before you’re ready.

Steve Jobs did, and he changed the world in dramatic, fundamental ways.  So have countless others.  They started before they were ready too.

And you can too.  Don’t worry about being perfect – perfect is highly overrated, plus it’s rather boring because there’s no risk.

Your ego mind can’t help you in the matter of starting that which your heart knows is your path.  It’s very good at coming up with countless reasons, excuses and doubts about why you shouldn’t do something.

Did you know that your resistance to doing your soul’s work is actually a signal that you are on the right path?

In the words of one of my treasured teachers, Bill Baren:

If there’s no resistance to the work, then you’re often skirting around the periphery of your work.  Resistance is the friend that arrives when we’ve hit the bulls-eye.  Procrastination, avoidance and excuse-making is simply part of the territory.

My guest this week on The Real Dr Doolittle Show™ is Master Rolfer, Briah Anson. She had a dream and was guided to help heal animals through the power of her touch.

Whatever you want to do, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic and power in it. – Goethe

Wishing you and your furrkids much love,

Val

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. Steve Jobs 

This article was previously published October 7, 2011 and was updated on January 23, 2023

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