If you know me well, you probably know that I got a hard time speaking to a camera. I recently described this problem to my friend Tom McCook, saying “Somehow I face a barrier when it comes to speaking in front of a camera.”
Tom’s response “How is this barrier serving you?”
It was some of these moments where it “clicked”. I realized that the felt barrier was not about speaking in front of a camera was difficult. It was that I wanted to protect myself from failing or doing something stupid.
Talking to Tom about this made me realize that most of my barriers are protective mechanisms. No matter if it was not publising a blog post, saying “no, I did not enjoy my meal,” or shying away from addressing a fellow travel who watched an action movie without headphones on a packed flight, it all served me.
Thinking about the barriers as a protective mechanism helped me in two ways. First, it helped me to change perspective and see it as something positive. The barrier had a purpose instead of just being an annoyance. Second it allowed me to take control. It wasn’t something abstract that I couldn’t tackle. I knew it’s purpose and felt more in controle.
How about you? What barriers do you face and what purpose do they serve?