On the outside it may look like I've got it together and live my days carefree and with ease. But the truth is that for as long as I can remember, I have battled fear and anxiety- like straight up stop you in your tracks fear of anything and everything. Most of the time my fears are ridiculous- often worrying about the unknown and things I have no control over. I've spent many years frozen by fear and controlled by anxiety and it is a battle that I will fight for the rest of my life. Thankfully, over time and lots of work, I've grown into a confident and less anxious person but it's always somewhere in the background. I've spent years cultivating all kinds of ways to cope with my anxiety and while I'm really happy and proud of the who I am, this is the year that I want embrace living fearless. I want to be a warrior in everything that I do, to feel the fear and and do it anyway, I want to be bold in the ways that I pick myself up after adversity, I want to squash the lies that fear whispers to to me in weak moments, I want to fight for gratitude, hope and joy. This is the year that I will live fearless.
Reading this post was like hearing my own thoughts - I can identify with what you've written so much, Alisa... It's so good to see that it's possible to fight the fear and anxiety and to live the life you want anyway! Living fearless is exactly what I want to try this year, too (even though I know I won't get rid of the fear and anxiety completely). Best luck in you fight, Alisa, and keep your fingers crossed for me, too, please!
Awesome motto for the year! I have experienced similar anxiety and fear too, to the point of it paralyzing me from moving forward. So I appreciate your sharing and encouragement. You go girl!
ME TOO, ME TOO!!!!!!!! I recently read a quote that so resonated with me and I keep it in mind all the time now. It went something like this: "If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present." I just always try to keep that in mind to keep me centered and in the moment, and to try to keep anxiety at bay. Such a powerful and profound way of putting things. All the best to you this year!!!
Thank you so much for sharing that!! I've long admired your amazing creativity and had no idea you share my struggle with anxiety and fear. I am grateful there are so many wonderful teachers available to me like Byron Katie, Michael Singer, my children and God. I look at your site daily and love the beauty you create. Many blessings to you - Nancy
Thank you for your honesty. From here you are everything I ever want to be in my next life and what is left of this one lol! And like my own daughters you are so brilliant and creative and exhude such confidence that I forget you are subject to real fear and anxiousness ...I wonder if it is in a woman's makeup? I know I will benefit walking this fearless year from out here with you!
WHAT? you aren't an Alisa Burke Robot? you sure started out good...in your own heart and then baring it HERE! not only does this help dispurse your own fears you have helped many others by revealing yourself. (may sound cliché, but oh so profound). you are one TERRIFIC HUMAN WOMAN, sharing your art and life with all of us...and showing how you manage it at times. I know you are going to KICK those little gremlins out in space, never to be seen again. You've already begun. Much love and CHEERS ALISA....GO GO GO XO
Thank you for being so brave and honest! In this world of "perfect" pinterest imagery your message is refreshing! Good luck in your quest in 2016, Fight on Warrior! Much Love - Colleen from WA
I applaud your honesty. The kind of life long (pervasive) fear you describe is almost always neurochemical and is not completely in your control. Thought stopping and cognitive reframing is very very effective. I'm not for over-medicating but often the proper meds that can change the neurochemistry are extremely helpful. Taking them is not a sign of weakness or lack of resolve.
Even doing this post is so fearless. I love it Alisa, keep it up and thank you for voicing the anxiety that so many of us feel! I've declared 2016 the Year of Creative YES - and so I too am focusing on saying yes to things despite my fears. Thank you for the wonderful words.
What an inspiration you are for the many of us who face anxiety to the point that it results in major procrastination, or just not doing something due to fear of failure. I too have battled this "disease" (un-ease) for years. I have procrastinated all week on a project I need to start. It affects family life and social life too. Thank you for your brave honesty, because so many of us see you as a total success and a terrific artist who can do anything. And you obviously can, but you do it fighting through the fear and anxiety. You just "do it". So I need to head to my "studio" (I hesitate to call it that, because other people would expect that something great comes out of it all the time, which is not the case!). Fear is my enemy. I must kick it out the door and get moving! Thank you, Alisa! Love your blog, your art, and all that you share with us.
How BOLD! You have just given me hope for this new year. If anyone else can do it so can I. Also Thank you for the great calendar. I printed it yesterday and am in the process of coloring it.
I can so relate to your fear and anxiety, I totally get it. AS I've gotten older (60 this year) I find it not as bad. I honestly feel I'm getting braver with age. But I love your attitude about it, and how you are not going to let it hold you back like I did for so long.
Thank you for sharing your anxiety. I've been reading your blog for years and I would never have guessed. To me you are an example of living fearlessly. Can't wait to read what is next for you and your family.
I know you will do it, Alisa. "Fearless" was my word for last year. I have fearlessly faced the blank page, practiced sketching, watercolor, art journaling,mane posted on Facebook. It took courage...and you helped me by teaching me how to do the things I love.
This year my word is "beginning". I will be retiring from a 40 year career as an IT professional. I will be facing a brand new beginning as an artist...a fearless artist.
Thank you for sharing this Alisa. I was really surprised, because I have the same goal this year...to find the warrior inside and let fear no longer keep me from living my life to the fullest...so you are not alone in your quest! I wish you all the strength to be the warrior you truly are...
I would never have picked that about you Alisa so thank you for sharing. It makes me realise that no matter how much we "have it together", we all have something that we deal with that is "real". Thank you for being truthful. With your truth, there is a feeling of relief that deep down we are all the same or similar in some way and you are real just like any of us. Thank you foe being so open.
Using your platform to take a moment to share the 'hidden' part of you is such a blessing to others, so they know they're not alone in their struggles. Thank you for sharing.
Alisa, I will be praying for you as I do for my two daughters. May the Lord deliver you from all your fears and calm your anxious heart. Love and blessings from Oklahoma!!
Thank you for sharing, it reminds me I am not alone in my struggles with fear and anxiety. Every time I color in the beautiful coloring books you create I will think of and pray for you. May God bring us both freedom from the lies of fear.
It's like you reached inside my head and wrote my words. Many creative souls are so finely tuned...seeing and hearing and feeling so keenly. It's awesome...helps make us who we are...but...it also means we often absorb the emotions of others unintentionally, which can contribute to feelings of anxiety. Those times when you are feeling anxious and fearful and are perplexed as to why...often those are emotions you've picked up on from those around you. Grounding yourself barefoot in the ocean sand is one of the very best things we can do for ourselves.
What helped me the most in dealing with PTSD was taking a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) class at a local teaching hospital; it was life altering! This course was based on the book Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, and I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you do read the book and decide to follow it’s practices, please note that you probably only need to do the techniques for about half the time suggested in the book; at least in our class, we only spent half the time in our practices as was recommended by the book. Even if you can’t find it at the library, there are a lot of older editions out there so a used copy shouldn’t be too expensive; even at full price it is worth every penny, though. There are also free Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs online that you can look into, but since I haven’t used any of these personally, I can’t recommend a specific one. Words can’t adequately express how much this helped me. I hope that, whatever you do, you are successful in finding a path out of anxiety and fear and into peace.
Yes, thank you for this! Thinking of the combination of these two quotes... Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear. Believe you can and you're halfway there.
I overcame fear of rejection with faith! After hearing another’s gal’s testimony, I realized I had suffered from a spirit of rejection since I was five. I never felt as if I were part of a group in school, in brownies, in high school peer groups with friends, as an adult in work groups, and even in bible study groups. It was not that I am not social or do not have the “gift of gab.” I reached out to others, helped people wherever I could but, at the end of the day, I still did not feel as if I fully belonged.
When listening to this gal’s story, I realized my life mimicked hers a bit. She was on her fourth husband, I on my third. She had looked for love in all the wrong places, as I had. She said when we recognize that something is holding us back from our full potential, such as fear or rejection, it is! First recognize that we are not alone and do not have to overcome things alone. Believing in Jesus and trusting Him to help us overcome, exercising faith that He is Who He says He is and we can do all things through Him who strengthens us is paramount.
Recognize what is blocking you – fear, rejection or whatever it is, repent and turn from our feelings of fear or rejection and all the wrong decisions and things we have done that are the result of those feelings, rebuke the spirit of fear, rejection or whatever it is, and rejoice in the sense of peace that comes -- peace like you’ve never had before.
In the Bible, God’s Word, Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious about nothing, but in everything with prayer, supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God, and the peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind.”
If you believe it, do it, and when fear starts to creep back in, recognize it, give it to God, rebuke it and go on being an overcomer! Choose faith in God over fear of things in life! Live that fearless life!
I try to be more gratitude and less resentment :)
ReplyDeleteBest wishes from poland
I can really identify with your post. Best wishes in your quest for fearlessness (or doing it anyway!)
ReplyDeleteGreat choice!!!
ReplyDeleteReading this post was like hearing my own thoughts - I can identify with what you've written so much, Alisa... It's so good to see that it's possible to fight the fear and anxiety and to live the life you want anyway! Living fearless is exactly what I want to try this year, too (even though I know I won't get rid of the fear and anxiety completely). Best luck in you fight, Alisa, and keep your fingers crossed for me, too, please!
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone! Many blessings to you in the coming year, Alisa.
ReplyDeleteWe try to be fearless too...have a very magical year !Regards from France
ReplyDeleteAnxiety has been a controling force in my life as well. Let's kick it, relax, make art and live life fearlessly!!
ReplyDelete~Connie in VA
Are you naked?
ReplyDeleteAwesome motto for the year! I have experienced similar anxiety and fear too, to the point of it paralyzing me from moving forward. So I appreciate your sharing and encouragement. You go girl!
ReplyDeleteLast year seemed to be filled with fear for me - what a powerful post - thanks for sharing that. Great motto for the year.
ReplyDeleteYou should check this class out. It's free.
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.mindvalleyacademy.com/
On January 12th, Christie Marie is once again hosting her legendary Unblock Your Abundance Masterclass.
ME TOO, ME TOO!!!!!!!! I recently read a quote that so resonated with me and I keep it in mind all the time now. It went something like this:
ReplyDelete"If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present." I just always try to keep that in mind to keep me centered and in the moment, and to try to keep anxiety at bay. Such a powerful and profound way of putting things. All the best to you this year!!!
Thank you so much for sharing that!! I've long admired your amazing creativity and had no idea you share my struggle with anxiety and fear. I am grateful there are so many wonderful teachers available to me like Byron Katie, Michael Singer, my children and God. I look at your site daily and love the beauty you create. Many blessings to you - Nancy
ReplyDeleteThank you for your honesty. From here you are everything I ever want to be in my next life and what is left of this one lol!
ReplyDeleteAnd like my own daughters you are so brilliant and creative and exhude such confidence that I forget you are subject to real fear and anxiousness ...I wonder if it is in a woman's makeup?
I know I will benefit walking this fearless year from out here with you!
WHAT? you aren't an Alisa Burke Robot? you sure started out good...in your own heart and then baring it HERE! not only does this help dispurse your own fears you have helped many others by revealing yourself. (may sound cliché, but oh so profound). you are one TERRIFIC HUMAN WOMAN, sharing your art and life with all of us...and showing how you manage it at times. I know you are going to KICK those little gremlins out in space, never to be seen again. You've already begun. Much love and CHEERS ALISA....GO GO GO XO
ReplyDeleteYou go! Let wee Lucy lead you and watch the world thru her eyes.
ReplyDeleteThank you for being so brave and honest! In this world of "perfect" pinterest imagery your message is refreshing! Good luck in your quest in 2016, Fight on Warrior! Much Love - Colleen from WA
ReplyDeleteThank you. Let's do this.
ReplyDeleteI applaud your honesty. The kind of life long (pervasive) fear you describe is almost always neurochemical and is not completely in your control. Thought stopping and cognitive reframing is very very effective.
ReplyDeleteI'm not for over-medicating but often the proper meds that can change the neurochemistry are extremely helpful. Taking them is not a sign of weakness or lack of resolve.
I so wish you a year of fearlessness!!!!!!
Even doing this post is so fearless. I love it Alisa, keep it up and thank you for voicing the anxiety that so many of us feel! I've declared 2016 the Year of Creative YES - and so I too am focusing on saying yes to things despite my fears. Thank you for the wonderful words.
ReplyDeleteAmy
What an inspiration you are for the many of us who face anxiety to the point that it results in major procrastination, or just not doing something due to fear of failure. I too have battled this "disease" (un-ease) for years. I have procrastinated all week on a project I need to start. It affects family life and social life too. Thank you for your brave honesty, because so many of us see you as a total success and a terrific artist who can do anything. And you obviously can, but you do it fighting through the fear and anxiety. You just "do it". So I need to head to my "studio" (I hesitate to call it that, because other people would expect that something great comes out of it all the time, which is not the case!). Fear is my enemy. I must kick it out the door and get moving! Thank you, Alisa! Love your blog, your art, and all that you share with us.
ReplyDeleteHow BOLD! You have just given me hope for this new year. If anyone else can do it so can I. Also Thank you for the great calendar. I printed it yesterday and am in the process of coloring it.
ReplyDeleteAtta Girl!
ReplyDeleteYou've identified the need, envisioned the goal, claimed your power and proclaimed your intention. You're on your way.
I can so relate to your fear and anxiety, I totally get it. AS I've gotten older (60 this year) I find it not as bad. I honestly feel I'm getting braver with age. But I love your attitude about it, and how you are not going to let it hold you back like I did for so long.
ReplyDeleteYou're fearless by putting this out to the us and the universe. I'm still pondering your thinking forward post from earlier this week
ReplyDeleteThank you for being so open!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your anxiety. I've been reading your blog for years and I would never have guessed. To me you are an example of living fearlessly. Can't wait to read what is next for you and your family.
ReplyDeleteI know you will do it, Alisa. "Fearless" was my word for last year. I have fearlessly faced the blank page, practiced sketching, watercolor, art journaling,mane posted on Facebook. It took courage...and you helped me by teaching me how to do the things I love.
ReplyDeleteThis year my word is "beginning". I will be retiring from a 40 year career as an IT professional. I will be facing a brand new beginning as an artist...a fearless artist.
I wish you a great year ...... sure you're going to get. From Spain
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this Alisa. I was really surprised, because I have the same goal this year...to find the warrior inside and let fear no longer keep me from living my life to the fullest...so you are not alone in your quest! I wish you all the strength to be the warrior you truly are...
ReplyDeleteI would never have picked that about you Alisa so thank you for sharing. It makes me realise that no matter how much we "have it together", we all have something that we deal with that is "real". Thank you for being truthful. With your truth, there is a feeling of relief that deep down we are all the same or similar in some way and you are real just like any of us. Thank you foe being so open.
ReplyDeleteUsing your platform to take a moment to share the 'hidden' part of you is such a blessing to others, so they know they're not alone in their struggles. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAlisa, I will be praying for you as I do for my two daughters. May the Lord deliver you from all your fears and calm your anxious heart. Love and blessings from Oklahoma!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing, it reminds me I am not alone in my struggles with fear and anxiety. Every time I color in the beautiful coloring books you create I will think of and pray for you. May God bring us both freedom from the lies of fear.
ReplyDeleteIt's like you reached inside my head and wrote my words. Many creative souls are so finely tuned...seeing and hearing and feeling so keenly. It's awesome...helps make us who we are...but...it also means we often absorb the emotions of others unintentionally, which can contribute to feelings of anxiety. Those times when you are feeling anxious and fearful and are perplexed as to why...often those are emotions you've picked up on from those around you. Grounding yourself barefoot in the ocean sand is one of the very best things we can do for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteWishing you Peace and Fearlessness this 2016! xo
What helped me the most in dealing with PTSD was taking a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) class at a local teaching hospital; it was life altering! This course was based on the book Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, and I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you do read the book and decide to follow it’s practices, please note that you probably only need to do the techniques for about half the time suggested in the book; at least in our class, we only spent half the time in our practices as was recommended by the book. Even if you can’t find it at the library, there are a lot of older editions out there so a used copy shouldn’t be too expensive; even at full price it is worth every penny, though. There are also free Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs online that you can look into, but since I haven’t used any of these personally, I can’t recommend a specific one. Words can’t adequately express how much this helped me. I hope that, whatever you do, you are successful in finding a path out of anxiety and fear and into peace.
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you for this! Thinking of the combination of these two quotes... Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear. Believe you can and you're halfway there.
ReplyDeleteI overcame fear of rejection with faith! After hearing another’s gal’s testimony, I realized I had suffered from a spirit of rejection since I was five. I never felt as if I were part of a group in school, in brownies, in high school peer groups with friends, as an adult in work groups, and even in bible study groups. It was not that I am not social or do not have the “gift of gab.” I reached out to others, helped people wherever I could but, at the end of the day, I still did not feel as if I fully belonged.
ReplyDeleteWhen listening to this gal’s story, I realized my life mimicked hers a bit. She was on her fourth husband, I on my third. She had looked for love in all the wrong places, as I had. She said when we recognize that something is holding us back from our full potential, such as fear or rejection, it is! First recognize that we are not alone and do not have to overcome things alone. Believing in Jesus and trusting Him to help us overcome, exercising faith that He is Who He says He is and we can do all things through Him who strengthens us is paramount.
Recognize what is blocking you – fear, rejection or whatever it is, repent and turn from our feelings of fear or rejection and all the wrong decisions and things we have done that are the result of those feelings, rebuke the spirit of fear, rejection or whatever it is, and rejoice in the sense of peace that comes -- peace like you’ve never had before.
In the Bible, God’s Word, Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious about nothing, but in everything with prayer, supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God, and the peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind.”
If you believe it, do it, and when fear starts to creep back in, recognize it, give it to God, rebuke it and go on being an overcomer! Choose faith in God over fear of things in life! Live that fearless life!
I wish you a very Happy New Year !
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI love all animals, especially dogs and horses and monkeys and zebras... Perhaps it would be easier to say the one I don't like : mice!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWoman, you are singing my song, here. Go you! <3
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