it is ok for me to feel fear, but I have everything it takes to move forward in spite of.

Ask people whose job is emergencies and almost none of them will tell you the fear went away. They'll tell you they got faster at working while it was happening.

That's the trick, and it's less inspiring than it sounds. Not fearlessness — competence that keeps functioning at the same time as the fear does.

*In spite of* is where the actual work lives. You aren't waiting on permission from your nervous system, and you aren't required to feel calm first. You're allowed to be frightened and capable in the same hour, in the same body.

Both are true right now. Only one of them needs your hands.