In this episode, I had the incredible opportunity to sit down with Lynda Sunshine West, the founder and unstoppable force behind Action Takers Publishing, as we explore the idea of using our fears as a transformative tool to unlock new possibilities! Lynda shares how she made a life-altering decision to confront one fear every day for an entire year, leading to an astonishing revelation. What she discovered was the power of trusting her intuition and facing her fears head-on, rather than running away from them, led to so many positive outcomes.
LAUREN and lynda ALSO discuss...
Identifying and dissolving fears that prevent deep authenticity
the importance of slowing down in order to speed things up in life
Lynda’s mission to empower 5 million women and men to write their stories
ABOUT lynda
Lynda Sunshine West ran away at 5 years old and was gone an entire week, came home riddled with fears and, in turn, became a people-pleaser. At age 51, she decided to break through one fear every day for a year and, in doing so, she gained an exorbitant amount of confidence to share her story. Her mission is to empower 5 million women and men to write their stories to make a greater impact on the planet. Lynda Sunshine West is the Founder and CEO of Action Takers Publishing, a Speaker, 28 Time #1 International Bestselling Author, Contributing Writer at Entrepreneur Magazine and Brainz Magazine, Executive Film Producer, and Red Carpet Interviewer.
Connect with Lynda
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@actiontakerspublishing
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndasunshinewest/ Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/lyndasunshinewest/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lynda-Sunshine-West/author/B078PX6MJW?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
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Episode hightlights
(00:03:03) Lynda shares the pivotal moment that sparked her decision to break through her fears and find her purpose in life.
(00:06:21) Lynda talks about her commitment to breaking through a fear every day for a year and how it transformed her life.
(00:08:38) Lynda describes her daily process of asking herself what scares her and allowing the fears to surface organically without making a list.
(00:16:15) Lynda discusses how her fear of judgment was debilitating and how she worked on breaking through it to show up authentically.
(00:18:24) Lynda shares how she now shows up 100% authentically, embracing her vulnerability and breaking through her fears.
(00:19:14) Lauren talks about the fear many people have of putting themselves out there, whether it’s in public speaking or starting a business, and how to overcome it.
(00:21:12) Lynda discusses the disempowering statements about fear and shares her perspective on breaking through fears and the opportunities that lie on the other side.
(00:24:04) Lauren shares her experience of starting her business out of fear and the process of building trust in herself to lead with love instead of fear.
(00:29:31) Lynda talks about the fear of failure and the mindset shift needed to see every experience as a door that leads to the right path and people.
(00:30:29) The speakers discuss how aligned experiences and the people we encounter along our journey can teach us valuable lessons and open doors to new possibilities.
(00:30:55) They both talk about how Thomas Edison viewed failure as an opportunity to learn and grow, and how adopting a mindset of learning from every experience can lead to personal growth.
*Click on the arrow below to expand the transcript
Lauren Best (00:00:08) – Welcome to Provoking Possibilities, where we reflect on pivotal life moments, ask thought provoking questions, and dream up new possibilities for living a life you love that may be a little out of your current reality. I’m Lauren Best, a certified hypnotherapist and provoker of possibility, and I’ve created this podcast for people who are curious about exploring new ways of living, who are looking to connect deeper with their bodies, their intuition, their hearts, and then known and who are really ready to just embrace their most authentic selves, to move into flow and into alignment. There is just so much that is possible for us when we open ourselves up to exploring new possibilities beyond our wildest imagination. So if you’re ready and curious to begin exploring new possibilities, join me every week for a new episode of Provoking Possibilities on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let’s dive in. I am so excited to have someone who has become near and dear to my heart, because she’s the reason why I have become a two time best selling author.
Lauren Best (00:01:20) – We have Linda Sunshine West joining today. She is a phenomenal woman and she has an amazing story. Of course, she actually ran away at the age of five years old and was gone for an entire week. There’s so many stories, I’m sure, within that which we might not get into. But she ended up coming home riddled with so many fears and in turn became a people pleaser. And there’s always stories attached to why we have different behaviors or fears and all of that. So for Linda to really be able to tie it to that experience is quite phenomenal. But at the age of 51, she decided to break through one fear a day for a year. And we’re definitely going to get into that, because in doing so, she gained an exorbitant amount of confidence to share her story, and her mission is to empower 5 million women and men to write their stories to make a greater impact on the planet. And Linda is the founder and CEO of Action Takers Publishing. She is a speaker, 28 time number one international bestselling author.
Lauren Best (00:02:29) – She’s a contributing writer at Entrepreneur Magazine and Brains Magazine, and executive film producer and red carpet interviewer. So there’s nothing this woman hasn’t done. So thank you, Linda, for joining. I’m so excited to just chat and learn more about all these fears that you have overcome, because it is truly so inspiring.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:02:52) – Yeah. Thanks, Lauren, so much for having me. And it’s interesting, as I hear my bio read today, as opposed to before I broke through those fears. Before it was just like I was a legal secretary and that was it.
Lauren Best (00:03:03) – Oh my gosh, that was my bio. And now it’s like my goodness. So so many things you probably imagined you wouldn’t have ever done right. So did that like really just what kind of inspired you, I guess, to make that decision to really break through or challenge yourself with, okay, I have all these fears. What am I going to do to get rid of them? And like, what really sparked for you in that journey of making that decision to work through those fears for a whole year?
Lynda Sunshine West (00:03:36) – Yeah, I remember the exact day, you know, it’s as if it were yesterday.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:03:40) – It’s almost exactly nine years ago today. As a matter of fact, as we’re recording this, and I was driving to work one day, stuck in the traffic that I had been stuck in for 36 years. I was working for a judge in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which I’m in California. That’s the highest court you can go to. And I worked for the number two judge in the entire circuit. So I worked my way up this ladder after 30, 36 years and 49 jobs. This was my 49th job working for this judge.
Lauren Best (00:04:11) – Wow.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:04:12) – Yeah. So just that alone, it’s like, well, 49 jobs. Why would she do that? Like, there’s a whole story related to that as well. But, you know, coming back to like, what was it about that decision that made me decide to break through a fear every day for a year? So as I was driving to work that day, something was different. Everything was the same, but something was different. There was a question that I asked and that was, why am I here on this planet? I have no purpose.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:04:37) – I have no value. There’s no reason for me to be here. All I do is push papers around for this judge all day long. That’s all I do like. This is a boring work. I can’t stand it. And I worked my way up to that. I was, like, looking to, like, advance myself and advance myself. And here I got to the penultimate, you know, being the secretary for a judge. And that was the ultimate for what I could do. And I worked my way up there and I just hated it. And so I was like, you know, why am I here? What’s the purpose of this whole planet? Why are we here? Where are we even here? And I just started asking all those questions. I didn’t have any answers as I was driving to work, but when I got to work, I found in a Facebook group a post from a woman. She’s a life coach who said I didn’t even know her at the time. She said, I’m a life coach.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:05:22) – I took some time off. I’m getting back into it, and I’m looking for five women who want to change their lives. She was talking to me.
Lauren Best (00:05:29) – Yeah, yeah.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:05:31) – So I raised my hand and I said, I’m in. I don’t know what a life coach is. I don’t know what to expect. But for the first time my entire life, I was 51 years old. For the first time, I actually invested in myself financially, first time ever, 51. And that was the opening of the door to my mind of possibilities, opportunities, starting to see who I am, why I’m here. That was the very start of the journey and I worked with her for five months. Incredible. Five months. People were telling me, wow, you’re so different this week than you were last week. So I knew that outwardly I was shifting as well as I could feel it inwardly that I was shifting. But when I was done working with her, I wasn’t done. There was a lot more work to go, a lot more work to go.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:06:21) – And I woke up the morning of January 1st of 2015, and when I woke up that morning, I said, I have so many fears that are stopping me from living. I’m going to break through a fear every day this year. And that was my commitment and I did it. That was, oh, I’m so glad I stuck with it. I didn’t quit on myself like I had for 49 jobs. What I was doing was quitting jobs, quitting.
Lauren Best (00:06:47) – Quitting, quitting.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:06:47) – So I was a quitter. I was a professional quitter, you know? And so that quitting was a commitment that I was committing to myself was to not be a quitter anymore, to break through those fears. And I, I did it 365 days in a row.
Lauren Best (00:07:02) – Amazing. Oh, my. And it sounds like you were already having these whispers of your intuition being like, okay, like just even that, seeing that Facebook group or like feeling that shift before you saw that Facebook post and then, you know, doing this work.
Lauren Best (00:07:18) – And then I think that’s one thing that I had to learn as well when I started, you know, going to therapy, hypnosis, joining these different communities was I had to change my mindset of like, oh, if I invest in this one thing, I’m going to be like healed or whatever it may be. And I know I write about that in one of my first book that I did with you, the collaboration book The Women with Healing Gifts. But it was really, you know, this switch of like, I’m not done yet for the rest of my life, actually is, you know, this is part of living purposefully for me is like really expanding and continuing to either look at these fears or even. Them in the first place. See what kind of patterns or ways we sabotage our own lives. And being really aware of that, but also realizing like, this is a forever thing. Because even if I work on a very specific fear, it might show up later in a different way.
Lauren Best (00:08:17) – And that’s okay. But I get to do things differently and I get to challenge that. And so for you being there on January 1st and saying, okay, I’m going to make this decision to look at a fear everyday, like, what did you do next? Did you make a big long list of all these fears? Like what was your process for actually doing this?
Lynda Sunshine West (00:08:38) – Yeah, I love when people ask me that question because it was like it never dawned on me to make a list. Like it never.
Lauren Best (00:08:44) – Yeah, it never.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:08:45) – Crossed my mind. And so the yeah, the process for me was and actually it was funny because I was doing this presentation and this woman said, do you have 365 fears? I just wrote down some fears I have, and I came up with 25 and was like, that’s cool that you came up with a list, you know? Yeah. So for me, what this is exactly what it looked like 365 days in a row. I would wake up and then I would before getting out of bed.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:09:08) – Laying in bed, I would ask myself a question. Three words. What scares me? And then I would just lay in bed and I asked it out loud because I know the power. When we ask out loud. There’s so much more power in that than just asking it in our head. And so I would ask that question at the beginning. My husband started looking at me. We were like, what are you doing? But, you know, he got used to it because I did this, you know, every day. So what scares.
Lauren Best (00:09:31) – Me? Get used.
Lauren Best (00:09:32) – To it. It was happening every day, regardless.
Lauren Best (00:09:35) – Exactly.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:09:36) – And then I would lay in bed. This was my commitment to myself. I would lay in bed until the first fear popped into my head. Now, sometimes the fear. It was instant, as if I was dreaming about all night long, anticipating and waiting for me to ask the question. And other times it took 10 or 15 minutes. So I didn’t have a list, I didn’t.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:09:57) – It was all 100% impromptu the way I did it.
Lauren Best (00:10:01) – Yeah, and that is again, another way of like, like you said, asking out loud and just sometimes instinctively and intuitively knowing. But other times, you know, taking that space to like, meditate and really see what comes up. And sometimes we don’t give ourselves enough space to do that. We want things like really quickly. And if we don’t, you know, come up with the answer right away. You know, there’s so much like speed in our society to like, keep things moving or keep doing. And I think this is a really great example to share with people of. Sometimes we have to slow down in order to speed things up because by just, you know, reacting out of fear as well, we can miss a lot of the spaciousness that we need to really reset or really acknowledge something. So yeah, with that process that you created for yourself, was there anything that really surprised you, whether it be a certain fear or the way that you were able to? I don’t know if it’s like some of them were really easy.
Lauren Best (00:11:08) – I don’t know any examples of like, any surprises along the way that really, truly were beyond what you imagined.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:11:16) – Yeah, I think the first realization as you ask that question, the first realization is that, yes, I had that many fears, and that was surprising in itself. You know, just that alone. Some of the fears that popped up were kind of strange. Like, for example, remember, some of them remember in particular because they were very specific, like talk to a stranger in a Starbucks, like it was so specific. And because I would go to Starbucks every day, would walk in, put up my computer and would get my head and my computer when I was done, I would walk out and never talk to anybody, never look at anybody in the eyes. Lauren, I used to be terrified to look at people in the eyes. I literally would walk down, walk around with my head bent down, looking at the ground. This is how I lived my life for 51 years.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:12:01) – So for me to walk into a venue and and, you know, talk to a stranger, that was huge for me. And one thing I love to share about fears is that to somebody else, they may be like, well, that’s that’s a ridiculous fear. You know, people people minimize our fears. Yeah. Without even knowing what they’re really doing. The reality is that my fears are as real as real can be to me. So every single fear is a big deal. Every single fear is a big fear, no matter how small it may seem to somebody else. To the person experiencing it, it’s a big fear. And so I walked up, I talked to that stranger, and about five minutes later we were done talking and I said, thank you for your time. And I just I walked up to him and I said, excuse me, sir, I’m breaking through a fear every day this year in today’s fear is to talk to a stranger in the Starbucks. Can have a seat.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:12:53) – So I sat down with him. Unfortunately, he said yes because otherwise it would have just ran me out of there. Yeah, but I sat down. We talked for five minutes. I stood up thinking. First time I walked out and I literally felt like throwing up. Like that was the scariest thing I’d ever done in my entire life.
Lauren Best (00:13:08) – Yeah.
Lauren Best (00:13:09) – And so boldly. Right. Because there’s a way you could have casually struck up a conversation. But to say straight on, like this is a part of my process. This is what I’m doing. This is why I want to chat with you. From an outsider, like, is like, I’m like, that’s so fearless, right? Like it is. It truly is. So it’s so cool that.
Lauren Best (00:13:32) – You.
Lauren Best (00:13:34) – Really like we’re so honest throughout this process of just, like holding that intention and sharing that, because I imagine that probably inspired him to share that story of what happened to him that day with someone else, or maybe even inspired him to, you know, think about his fears, right?
Lauren Best (00:13:53) – Oh, you.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:13:53) – Know that that’s interesting. I hadn’t ever looked at it from his perspective. So thanks for sharing that. And, you know, and it was through working with my life coach that gave me that, that courage to be able to even walk up through the fear. You know, it’s just like you said, because basically I started working with my life coach. I was able to learn who I am. And, you know, we we throw around this word authenticity a lot, right? We cannot be authentic if we don’t know who we are. And as a recovered people pleaser, people pleasers cannot show up authentically because we’re too busy worrying about everybody else. We’re too busy about like, oh, I hope that they like me. I want this person to like me. I want to please everybody else. We can’t show up authentically. So I spent 51 years not showing up authentically until I worked with my life coach, discovered who I am so now that I could show up that way.
Lauren Best (00:14:42) – Mhm mhm.
Lauren Best (00:14:43) – And that’s I think that’s a really great point is you know we have based on like these old experiences that we have you know create stories around how we should show up. Right. And people pleasing is that kind of. That like secondary thing based on that experience, but it becomes so real and it becomes so much of this like persona that we’ve created because we’re, you know, we’re trying to avoid feeling the fears that we experienced previously. And I think, as you mentioned, like showing up authentically. Something I had to do was really look at what I valued and then looking at those values as actions, like, how could I show? Show up authentically, essentially to honor those values. And that was a process that I had to go on just even a few years ago to really look at, like, oh, am I honoring those values that I have and these parts of me that really, truly are so important? And there were ways where, you know, my perfectionism or people pleasing was totally overshadowing how I wanted to show up authentically in those ways and portray those values.
Lauren Best (00:15:59) – So was there a process that you went on specifically to honor, like how it is you could show up authentically and kind of start to dissolve that people pleasing persona that you had created for yourself.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:16:15) – It was really through those fears, you know, that just, you know, breaking through those fears. That was kind of like the underlying thing for me that I needed to do in order for me to be able to show up without the most common fear, which is the fear of judgment. So my fear of judgment was debilitating. It was it was debilitating. And by realizing it was about six months into breaking through those fears. So I had broken through about 180 fears right in a row every day. By that time I was like, what’s the common theme here? There’s got to be something common here. And that was when it dawned on me that it was the fear of judgment. What if I walk up to him and I say something and he sees how stupid and ignorant I am? Why did I even have that thought? Because my first husband, on a daily basis told me every single day, you are so stupid and ignorant.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:17:07) – People are only nice to you because they feel sorry for you. Unfortunately, believe those words of him. So as I was making my way through, you know, breaking through these fears every day, that six months into it I was able to look at that and say, the common fear I have here is that fear of judgment. So now that I know what it is, what if I just work on that one fear? Now I’m consciously aware of what I’m working on. And so now as I approach situations and I’m feeling a fear because it’s nothing more than just energy, I’m feeling this fear now. I say, okay, is this the fear of judgment? Right? If so, I need to like, let that go away. And so as I broke through more and more fears, the fear of judgment has disappeared. Like it doesn’t even show up anymore. Now that right there, that to me is the greatest. Like, the greatest thing I gained from that year is that I do and say things that are goofy things I shouldn’t say.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:18:08) – I do this all the time, but in the past I wouldn’t say them. I would just think them right. But now I show up 100% authentically as me at all times, with full on vulnerability to to walk up to a stranger, to say I’m breaking through. I have so many fears I’m breaking through them. Can I talk to you? You know.
Lauren Best (00:18:24) – Yeah, yeah. Oh, wow. That’s incredible. Just to, like, hear how intentionally things shifted for you in that journey by just being more aware of, you know, these fears and these emotions and seeing, like, in which context or which environment or in which different scenarios that I could find myself in on a daily basis or from week to week or whatever it may be like, how can I really begin to dispel and let go of this fear in so many different ways? Because although it may may be the same, fear it. They can show up in our lives in so many ways. So I think that is such a beautiful approach that you took in something really inspiring to share with everyone listening, because now I’m like, oh my gosh, I want to try that, right? Like I’m like, yeah, okay.
Lauren Best (00:19:14) – These fears, you know, that I’ve worked through a lot in hypnosis, of course, but there are these scenarios, you know, public speaking. I hear from a lot of people, even female entrepreneurs who are like, you know, I really want to I have this passion and I really want to create a business where I can, you know, even my friends who are mothers who are like, I want to stay at home or with my kids, but I really don’t want to lose that part of myself that is, you know, a career woman and has my own aspirations. But then they’re like, I don’t want to put myself out there. Like I have this fear of really putting myself out there. And, you know, there can be so many ways to put ourselves out there. It doesn’t need to look like how everyone else does it. But what if we, yeah, have these little nuggets of, like, permission to show up differently or to show up and, you know, really face that fear in a way that might feel super uncomfortable, but eventually, like with this idea of there being comfort or us creating our own comfort for ourselves, you know, eventually.
Lauren Best (00:20:19) – So I love that you really, you know, took the those, these different opportunities to look at the same fear and like, okay, where, where can I notice where this is showing up for me and. Think that is just so. So inspiring to hear. That, you know, also think there’s a lot of pressure we put in ourselves to like. And I mentioned this a little bit before, like get rid of a fear and then it’s gone forever. But it might show up in a different way. Right. So the yeah, we’re very cognizant of that is just really, really, um, intentional. And I think it it is going to break barriers for so many other people to hear that that was a process that you also had to go through as well. So I really love that. Thank you for, you know, just sharing that perspective around it as well.
Lauren Best (00:21:11) – Yeah.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:21:12) – And I do want to share an additional perspective. And you recently wrote a book called Do It because you’re scared.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:21:19) – Because you’re scared. Yeah. So there’s this saying to feel the fear and do it anyway, or do it in spite of the fear. To me, those are disempowering statements. We’re not taking power. Well, we’re saying, is that okay? That’s fair. Guess I got to do it anyway. But if you said. You know what, that’s fear. I have to do this because I’m scared. Because on the other side of fear, we don’t know what’s over there. That’s why it’s scary. But what if. What if the vast majority of the time, if you discovered this, what I discovered when I broke through all those fears is probably 99% of the time. After I broke through the fears, I was proud of myself. I felt good about doing it. A door was open that didn’t know it was closed. I met somebody along the journey that led me to something else. Every single thing I’m doing today, all those things you mentioned in my bio, all of that started with Breaking through fears.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:22:13) – Every single bit of it. So look at the way my life has shifted. I am a completely different person. All the people in my life are different, with the exception of my family, you know? But my whole entire life has shifted and I show up powerfully because I broke through those fears. So what I want to share is that so in the book, you do it because you’re scared. I talk about your fear of being like a door. So we’re standing in front of a door, and that door is fear. Let’s say that door is fear. It’s staring you in the face. But what are you going to do? Are you going to stare at it? You’re going to turn around. You’re going to walk away, or even a peek inside of that door. You’re going to see like what is behind there. I’m not really sure what it is. I’m I’m not sure why I’m scared, but but, you know, maybe I’m going to look behind there and just see what are the possibilities, what are the opportunities.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:22:58) – And then you get to decide and you’re going to turn away. Are you going to close the door? Are you going to go back away, or are you going to walk right through it? And then when you walk through that fear, what’s on the other side? You know, the subtitle of the book is Opening Doors to Conquer Fear and Embrace Unforeseen Opportunities. Because on the other side of fear is opportunity. But if you think about it from that perspective and you say, if opportunity is on the other side of that fear, and if I might feel proud of myself for breaking through that fear, why am I depriving myself of that opportunity? Because that’s what’s happening. When we don’t break through fears, we’re depriving ourselves of the opportunities, the possibilities. They are endless, but we’re stopping it because we’re letting fear not let us go through that door. So if you think about it from this perspective, you have to do it because you’re scared. Now I’m empowered on it. Okay? This is just fear.
Lauren Best (00:24:00) – Yeah, I have.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:24:00) – To do this because I’m scared. Let me see what comes from this.
Lauren Best (00:24:04) – Hmm.
Lauren Best (00:24:04) – I want to I’m really curious because, you know, you sharing this perspective as well. I’m really curious to hear what you think, because I want to share a little bit about how I started my business, and it was based off of fear. It was the fear of I can’t go back to a workplace that could possibly be toxic, that I could possibly be working 60 hours a week. I didn’t want to do that. There was like all all these reasons, yes, I wanted to find my passion and purpose and all this. But there was this bigger fear that was the driver for me. This fear of these other unknowns that I knew weren’t aligned, like based on my previous experiences of being in that workplace that was toxic or working more than I wanted to, that wouldn’t allow me to focus on my health. It was like that fear was so big that I just wanted to completely run away from it.
Lauren Best (00:25:00) – So this desire to start my business, yes, purpose and fun and ease was definitely there. But at that time, that fear of something else was so much bigger. Now it’s like flip flopped on its head, right? Right now I’m doing things out of love, and I had to go through that process of even, you know, not looking at those past experiences as fearful or things that could happen again. But it’s because I learned to trust myself, to listen to that intuition that I had ignored before that that allowed me to stay in those situations that were toxic or overworking and led to burn out all of that. So for me, it was really having to go through that process of building that trust. But, you know, just with me sharing that, I wondered if you had any like. Relative narrative of like waiting for. That trust to kick in so that you could, like, lead with that love and let that or even let that fear that you were avoiding, like running away to a place that you loved.
Lauren Best (00:26:09) – I know it’s a bit different from what you’ve done, but I know it’s a different experience that I’ve had. So I know there’s other people out there listening that are probably in that same position as well.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:26:20) – Yes, I love this question. And what’s funny is that I’m just earlier today, I just happened to stumble upon one of the quotes I came up with during that year that was breaking through fears. I came up with over 750 quotes that year, as was examining my life. Right. And so one of those quotes is you’re burning. Desire for success has to be stronger than your allowance for complacency. Thinking about how powerful that is, because oftentimes fear creates complacency. We talk about the comfort zone all the time. The comfort zone is a place where we’re comfortable. It doesn’t mean that it’s a good place. It just means we’re comfortable. Right? So I’m in this zone. It’s called the comfort zone. Outside of that is where all the opportunities and possibilities happen. And so when we think about it from the perspective, like what you were mentioning there, those 49 jobs that I had, I was running away from every single one of those jobs.
Lauren Best (00:27:16) – Mm hmm.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:27:18) – But then I decided to start looking at it differently, like my perspective became different and my perspective was that was actually running away, or was I running to something better?
Lauren Best (00:27:27) – Yeah.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:27:28) – So I decided to just shift my way of thinking because I always saw that I was running away. But now I see it that I was running to something better. I wanted to create something better, and it just happened to take 49 jobs for me to get there before I became an entrepreneur. Some people it’s less time and some people it’s more time, you know? But but that journey. So as far as the fear, you know, it’s first is about recognizing that you’re experiencing a fear. Know that’s that first step. Because if I don’t have awareness that I’m experiencing fear, how do I know what to do? What next steps to take? And so one of the things I love doing, I do have a simple seven step process that I teach take people through in order to break through their fears every single time.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:28:11) – And I’ll share with you. I know we have very limited time, but I’m just going to share. The bottom line of it is that if you can look into the future, let’s say one year from today, if you do, if you break through this fear right now, will it adversely affect your life one year from today? And if the answer is no, break through that fear. You got to do it because we don’t know what the possibilities are. People ask all the time, like, where do you see yourself in five years? And I say, why would I limit myself of where I see myself in five years? Because I don’t know who I’m going to meet tomorrow. I’m taking part in an incredible, amazing, crazy, cool opportunity to be part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And that right there would never have happened if I had limited myself to where I saw myself five years from five years ago.
Lauren Best (00:29:02) – I’m with you in that. Like, that question for me was always like, what? What should I envision? And that’s how I will answer based on right, what people expect you to want in the next five years and has now changed to like, you know, there’s going to I know there’s so much uncertainty and I’m ready to like, embrace where that uncertainty will take me because you never know where it will lead to.
Lauren Best (00:29:28) – So I love that you share that.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:29:31) – What doors will open but you got to step through them. That’s the thing, right? We have to step through them. We can’t let our fears stop us. And matter of fact, I like to say fear. Fear can either fail you or feel you, but you get to decide which one it is. So what will you decide? Will you walk through that door to the opportunities, the possibilities that are unlimited. Unlimited?
Lauren Best (00:29:51) – Yeah.
Lauren Best (00:29:52) – And think another thing that comes along for people as well, when they think about these doors opening and trusting whether something is a yes or a no is this fear of failure. If I take this path or walk through this door, is it the right one? Is it something that I can fail? And then, you know, I’m starting back at stage one, but I think there is that mindset shift that is so possible of like there are no mistakes, there is no failure. If you can open your eyes to just seeing everything, is that next door that will continue to lead you to the right people or the right experiences.
Lauren Best (00:30:29) – The or sorry, the aligned experiences, the aligned people and the people who might teach you lessons along the way that will allow you to be again pushed towards these other doors that really are going to open your world to so, so much more than you ever thought. So yeah, I’m just like, I’m ready to write down some fears after this.
Lauren Best (00:30:52) – And report.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:30:54) – Back. Report back?
Lauren Best (00:30:55) – Yeah.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:30:56) – Thomas and Thomas Edison said, you know, I didn’t fail 10,000 times. I found 10,000 ways that didn’t work because he looked at every failure as an opportunity to learn. And that’s my mindset has shifted completely. Like I jump into things all the time and then I’m like, hey, what did I learn there? What did I learn there? Because then I can pull that in. And if I didn’t take that opportunity to to see what was possible, then I wouldn’t have learned that.
Lauren Best (00:31:18) – Um, yeah.
Lauren Best (00:31:19) – So true. Oh, I love this. Well, Linda, thank you so much for sharing all this.
Lauren Best (00:31:25) – How can people continue to hear from you work with you? I know you have lots of amazing projects on the go, so where can we find out all about this and keep connected with you?
Lynda Sunshine West (00:31:38) – Definitely. Thanks so much for having me Lauren. I’m truly appreciate and thanks for being part of our books. You know what we’re doing to put put your messages out there. You can find me at Action Takers publishing.com action takers publishing. There’s plenty of opportunities there for you to connect with me. We can hop on a call or whatever it is that you want to do. I also offer fear busting sessions now. It’s something I just started implementing a little while ago. So opportunities to help you to break through fears. It’s not all just about the books. It’s about getting your message out there, sharing your voice so it can be heard so that you can make a greater impact on the planet.
Lauren Best (00:32:14) – Oh my gosh, I love that. And I wanted to share with you before we go that actually my writing practice, and I think I probably shared this with you already, but I want to share with everyone else listening as well that I hadn’t really been writing that much creative like for many years.
Lauren Best (00:32:31) – And it was this like perhaps a fear of vulnerability or, you know, whatever was blocking me that I just thought, you know, this year I’m going to make writing a priority, and I’m going to do that in so many different ways and hadn’t imagined that that would lead to being in a collaboration book with action takers. And it did lead to that very quickly, actually, after setting that intention with a beautiful invitation from Karissa Hurd, who is also a contributing author. But it really gave me so much confidence and a container to not, like, extract these stories out of my, you know, intuition, my subconscious, all these places where these, like, golden nuggets were really hiding and I was keeping them to myself. And so I just want to thank you, Linda, for being the biggest part in that and just providing the space for so many people. To share, but to find their confidence, to find that trust and share that love. So thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.
Lauren Best (00:33:34) – I’m just so grateful.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:33:37) – Thank you. That just warms my heart like you don’t even know. Mean. That’s amazing. Mean I’m living my purpose, you know. And I’m doing it. I’m doing it.
Lauren Best (00:33:45) – It’s. Yeah.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:33:45) – There’s nothing quite like it, you know?
Lauren Best (00:33:48) – It’s so good. Well, thank you again. And thank you to everyone who is listening. There is so much possibility out there for you. So please keep open to those doors and being aware of those fears so that you can really put yourself in a place to overcome those fears and open doors. So thank you so much, Linda.
Lynda Sunshine West (00:34:11) – Thank you for having me.
Lauren Best (00:34:13) – Because you’ve been listening to the show. I want to leave you with a little treat, which is one of my favorite hypnosis audios that will help you let go of the noise and worry from your everyday life by bringing you to a place where you can connect with your subconscious mind and imagine and dream about your life. Because as we continue to move through ebbs and flows and seasons of our lives, there will likely be times where envisioning new possibilities becomes difficult, or where we struggle to move out of that autopilot mode and into self-awareness to really live the lives that we want.
Lauren Best (00:34:47) – So do listen to this audio. It will encourage you to keep dreaming about your life, even during uncertain times where new possibilities may feel cloudy. Hypnosis has been such an amazing tool that I myself have used to move from a state of overwhelm and stuckness to really being able to keep dreaming about my life. And I know you can too. So visit the link below to download the Visualize a Life You Love Hypnosis audio for free or visit my website. Lauren. best.com. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey of exploring new possibilities and embracing your most authentic self. I appreciate you and your willingness to open your mind and your heart to new ideas and ways of being that are beyond your current reality. So if you found value in this episode, please take a moment to leave a reading and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to this podcast. Your support helps us to spread the message of compassion, self discovery, and personal growth to more people who may benefit from it. And if you’re looking for additional support on your journey of self-discovery and transformation, I invite you to visit my website at Lawrence, where you’ll find resources, courses, and coaching services to help you navigate life’s challenges with more ease and joy and confidence and support.
Lauren Best (00:36:18) – So please check that out. And more than anything, I hope you’ll remember that you’re not alone on this journey. We are all in this together, and by embracing our most authentic selves, we can create more compassion and connection to the world. So please keep dreaming, keep exploring, and keep provoking possibilities with love and intuition. I’ll be back soon with more thought provoking questions, inspiring stories, and powerful insights and conversations to support you on your journey. But until then, take care of yourself and others and remember that you are worthy of love and possibility.
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