Business Women: Walking Through the Fear

My husband, Scott and I took our boys to Silverwood Theme Park this last week. The boys raced for the Tremors roller coaster as my husband, Scott, drug his feet towards the winding line. By the way...Tremor’s is an old wooden coaster that drops over one hundred feet at 65 mph into a pitch black underground tunnel.

Our oldest son was screaming back, “Dad. Hurry up. Let’s get on this one.”

Scott walked even slower.

I said, “What is it? Are you scared of roller coaster’s? Why the slow pace? The boys are waiting.”

Scott said, “Yes! I am scared. The boys aren’t scared because they don’t know we are going to die. I do!”

I laughed and pushed Scott towards the ever growing line. Reluctantly he went on the ride. As he hopped off the ride (still alive), he realized it wasn’t so bad. Actually, he wanted to try it again. By the end of our vacation he was in the front car of the coaster riding with his hands fully extended in the air. I believe you could see his smile from space. It was a true transformation.

As we road on Tremors, for the 4th time, I thought about the correlation between roller coasters and small business ownership. I thought about the fear in Scott’s eyes when he went on that ride and the sheer joy when he got off the last time.

Owning a business is a pretty scary ride. There are many times when fear can take over a small business owner. There are ups and downs like a roller coaster. Sometimes we may want to jump off. But faith keeps us going. We know as we drop a hundred feet straight down or go 65 mph into the pitch black, we will get through it.

It is our faith that leads us. It is our faith that guides us down the path to sheer joy; A joy we can only receive, walking through the fear.

Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. And lo, no one was there. ~Author Unknown

-by Diana Kohn

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Diana Kohn is a member of Koinonia Business Women. She is the co-founder of FLAIR. You can reach her at 206-353-1003 or visit FLAIR's site at http://www.businesswithflair.com/ .