These pictures were taken 11 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

Some moments don’t fade. They live in your body. Your heart. Your identity.
This was one of those moments for me.

At the time, I was afraid of heights. Not the cute, “I don’t love balconies” kind of afraid. I was terrified.
For years, I wouldn’t even get on a plane.

Then I was invited to spend a weekend with a group of girlfriends at a beautiful spa resort in Austin. The kind of place that feels luxurious, peaceful, and completely out of your normal routine.

The weekend itinerary included horseback riding, a half marathon… and a confidence course that involved heights.

Horseback riding? Easy.
Half marathon? I had never run one before, but I had been training for a half Ironman and I felt ready. .

The heights? That part had my nervous system in full panic mode.

Everything in me wanted to back out.

But I didn’t.

I went anyway.

And what made the difference was this: I didn’t go alone.

These women, my tribe, were there cheering me on, encouraging me, reminding me who I was when fear tried to tell a different story. They believed in me when my own confidence was shaky.

Facing Fear and Doing It Anyway

Here’s what that weekend taught me about fear:

Fear doesn’t disappear because we wait long enough.
It softens when we meet it.

Courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s the decision to listen to something deeper than fear.

My body was scared. My mind had a thousand reasons why I shouldn’t do it. But there was another voice inside me, quieter, steadier that said, Go. This matters.

So I didn’t wait to feel ready.
I didn’t wait to feel confident.
I chose to move while I was still afraid.

And every small step rewired something inside of me.

Each moment I didn’t turn back…
Each time I breathed through the discomfort…
Each time I let myself be supported instead of pretending I was “fine”…

I was teaching my nervous system a new truth:
I can feel fear and still be safe.
I can feel fear and still move forward.
I can feel fear and still trust myself.

That lesson has carried into every brave decision I’ve made since.

That weekend, I ran my first half marathon. And yes, that was a big deal.

But what I’m most proud of isn’t the miles.

It’s that I faced a real fear.
I allowed myself to be supported.
And I did the thing I was convinced I couldn’t do.

That experience shifted something inside of me.

It gave me evidence.

Evidence that fear doesn’t get the final say.
Evidence that I am capable of more than the stories I had been telling myself.
Evidence that with support, intention, and courage, we can rewrite what we believe about who we are.

That weekend didn’t just give me a memory.
It gave me confidence to try new things.
To stretch myself.
To face other fears.
To question the quiet limiting beliefs that had been running in the background of my life.

And over time, that became the foundation of the work I do today.

Because so many women are living with invisible ceilings.

“I’m just not that kind of person.”
“I could never do that.”
“It’s too late.”
“I don’t have what it takes.”
“I’ll fail.”
“I’ll disappoint people.”

Those beliefs feel real. But they aren’t truth.

They are learned. And what is learned can be unlearned