I went to a Tony Robbins conference the other day. When I first arrived it was totally too much – people dancing, smiling and hugging! I was like wow, wow, WOW we need to slow this down, I don’t even know these people!
Then a woman pulled me aside and she said to me “Tony knows who you are. He knows your story. And he wants YOU to firewalk.”
Firewalk?
Yep, walk across a bed of burning coals that are around 500 degrees celcius. I immediately thought ‘NO WAY. No bloody way am I going to do that. That’s just dumb’. Right?
Well, as the conference went on though I came to realise a few things…
The fire is my crutch, my excuse not to try new things. It’s my excuse for bad moods, fights with Michael, things that go wrong in my life. At all of these things I can point to the fire and say “Hey, it wasn’t my fault I got burned. It’s not my fault I’m like this”.
See, we all have a story we tell ourselves to make excuses and justifications. Maybe we got picked on at school. Got hurt in a relationship. Lost someone that we loved. And for me, it’s the fire.
But that stuff doesn’t serve us. It does NOTHING for us. It holds us back, it ties us down, it gives us an escape from our reality.
When I was asked to firewalk, I spent all day thinking of an excuse not to do it. I’m traumatised. Ah, I’ve been burnt before so not that keen for a repeat. It’s not going to do anything for me. I even considered telling Tony that my feet had been burnt off already! I was willing to lie to keep my story, my excuse alive.
Then I had this moment of pure clarity. What better way to face my fears – then to walk through a bed of burning coals?
If I do this. If I confront my biggest fear – I’ll know for certain, I’ll know that I can do anything with every fibre of my being. In fact, it will be the biggest gift I’ve ever gotten because it will show me just how far I’ve come on my journey.
So I did it. I firewalked. And I know now, that I truly can do anything …. and so can you.
Turia xx
ps I’d love to connect with you more regularly! Sign up to my newsletter to hear more about my adventures and to get all my favourite tips for living a fearless life.
