I think people often don't realize they're afraid.

They just feel stuck in the decision-making process or the overwhelm and they don't realize it's actually fear.

So one, that awareness is really important.

But two, a lot of people think they're afraid of failure when they're actually afraid of success, too.

Hi, this is Monica Packer and you you're listening to About Progress, where we are about

progress made practical.

When I first began this podcast, I was not scared at all.

That fear came later. When I began about progress, I was

already in the space of creating for creating's sake. And that's because 11 months prior to

beginning about progress, I did start something that I had been terrified of doing for literal years, writing online.

Yes, a blog.

For years prior, eight years to be exact, I had sat in really loving the blogging space and wanting to do so as well, but not because I was afraid. I thought I wouldn't be good enough.

I wondered what would happen if nobody read it. I wasn't sure I had the writing chops, that anyone

would be interested in what I had to say. I had this fear of putting in all the work and not going

anywhere. And weirdly, the idea of starting and then stopping was even

more scary to me than beginning in the first place. But when I finally did, several years too late,

by the way, for thinking industry-wise, I found that some of my fears were realized, but most

were not. And beginning my blog, which was called

about progress, gave me the courage to try more and to try scared. And all of that trying is what

finally led to the podcast. What if fear isn't a sign that you are not ready,

but proof that your dream matters? Today you will hear me coach Abby, a woman standing at the

edge of a long held dream to begin her own creative business. But what's stopping her isn't a lack of skill. It's the

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