Thursday, January 8, 2015

The art of wearing a new hat

I wore a new hat today. Not the standard hat that I always wear - that everyone in my town wears. It was a trendier hat. One that I knew no one else in my circle would have.

Sounds simple enough, right? It's just a hat. But something happened the moment that I put it on my head. All of the excitement of the new hat was instantly drowned out by the voices of fear. You know the ones - we've all heard them.

"Stop trying to be something you're not."

"They are going to laugh at you."

"They will make fun of you."

"They'll talk about you behind your back."

In the past I may have put the hat back on the shelf and saved it for a trip to NYC. A safe place where my hat wouldn't stand out. But today... today I kept the hat on. I wore it because I liked it and I ignored the fear.

The story is about a hat, but the lesson is much deeper. We all have a "hat" that we'd like to wear but the moment we put it on the resistance kicks in halts us in our tracks. Maybe your hat is a new job, a different clothing style or giving up Facebook so you can spend more time with your kids.

I'm not sure what your hat is, but I know you have one. I'm putting my hat on tomorrow in spite of the fear. I hope you'll do the same.