Are you stepping up to the plate in your life or are you procrastinating and slacking off? Do you find yourself overwhelmed and being too critical? Which way are you turning?

I just came from seeing Paul Lacoste’s documentary, “Step Up To The Plate.” It is about the renowned French chef Michel Bras and his son Sebastian, who is now in full command of Michel’s restaurant. It was a beautiful display of watching a father and son creating food that is truly an art.

Michel and Sebastian have a complicated relationship. Michel is quite critical of his son and is very much a perfectionist. He wants to teach his son his expertise in creating and preparing food, almost to a fault. The father insists that his son “step up to the plate” and do everything he can to perfect his craft. Sebastian tries to take it all in while having a sense of humor at the same time. He tells his father, as he stares at the plate he has prepared for him, “food is to be eaten, not stared at!“

Life is a combination of stepping up to the plate and doing all you can to be your best. It’s about taking action and responsibility for you, however, there has to be a balance in all that one does. If you are too critical, looking at everything so seriously, how can you enjoy your life?

Isn’t it time to step up to the plate, having fun at the same time? Enjoy what you do and enjoy your journey. Life’s too short for anything else.

*Please comment below and share with your friends.*

Hugs,

Betsy Karp,

Founder of i adore me

Everybody thinks fear is a bad thing, but actually it’s one of the best things that can happen to you if you use it to your advantage. Fear moves us forward, it helps us to grow, it pushes us out of our comfort zone and let’s us create new opportunities for ourselves. If we didn’t have fear we wouldn’t grow. And what would be the whole point of life anyway?

Everybody gets fear. Even Tony Robbins says he still gets it. But when fear does come up, ask yourself what you’re afraid of. What are those emotions and feelings? Let them come up inside of you…don’t push them down.

When you start to embrace and feel the feelings of fear, they will begin to dissolve. That’s what’s called pushing through the fear. This is something you really need support with, so look to a coach, a therapist, some of the i adore me programs and let fear be your friend instead of your enemy.

Just yesterday I had my sixth speech at Toast Masters. The topic was “Love or Fear. Which One?” I delivered a message through explaining how when we use fear to our advantage, it really does start to empower us, holding the love as its friend. Just let the darkness of the fear go. Even though it was my sixth speech and I am getting better at all of this, the butterflies and all the fears still came up for me that night and in the morning before the speech. But after I delivered the speech and people thanked me for a new, clever and creative way to explain the difference between love and fear, it brought about a resolution inside of me: I stepped out of my comfort zone, revealing things that I’ve been through that I had been fearful of, to try and help others.

Fear is a really big subject and emotion, but when we use it to our advantage and step out of our comfort zone and speak up and speak out, it starts changing how we feel. Where are you right now in your life? Are you in a fear-based place or a love based place? Maybe you need to let fear push you so you can grow. Use fear to bring about change in you and see how great you will feel after you do it. You really will feel like you’ve accomplished something. Start looking at fear in a whole new light, embrace it with some love, then let it go.

*Please comment below and share with your friends.*

Hugs,

Betsy Karp,

Founder of i adore me