As a child, if I got too loud, too boisterous, too ME, my mom would quickly pull me away and tell me to stop. It was too much for her.

When I tried to make an impact on my family, to be myself, whether it was expressing myself with crayons on the basement wall or being reluctant to practice ballroom dancing (it was a part of European culture), my father beat the crap out of me. And I had the welts to prove it.

The sad irony was that the reason my parents reacted this way was because they were afraid. Afraid of ME, of my impact. And quickly I had to be brought to heel.

Certainly, there were other factors at play. My parents’ own childhood experiences and how they believed children should be raised.

I quickly learned that the best thing to do was to keep a low profile and remain silent. The less attention he attracted, the safer he was.

So you understand why I’m afraid of visibility. It kept me from creating and sharing videos, being active in building a community, and even sharing my deepest self with people I love for a long time.

Not everyone (thank heavens) has been subjected to physical violence to stifle its impact, but we have all experienced smothering. Women in particular have immersed themselves in a cultural tea of ​​’too much’, ‘always put others first’ and whatever you do, keep everyone happy.

My impact, your impact, the impact you want to have with your business, operates in that context. He’s not immune, and I’m not immune. You are not immune.

When your shock is unwelcome, when it gets you in trouble while you’re expressing it, you start to walk away from it. If the reaction is strong enough, you are afraid of it.

And that will not allow you to have the impact that you want to have, your exquisite and compelling impact that will change the world in some way. Whether it’s the environmental impact in the way you run your business, or the social impact in the way you treat your employees or something else, your impact CAN change the world.

You may not even realize that you are afraid of its impact. You may also be calling it fear of visibility. But why would you be afraid of your visibility if you didn’t know you would have an impact?

Is it an unconscious return to earlier days, when you had a strong or even violent reaction against your impact?

Is it that no matter what you do, it doesn’t feel enough?

Is it fear of the unknown, that if you really had the impact you want to have, everything would be different? Or maybe the power of change that your impact could cause is scaring you.

Whatever the reason, your impact keeps calling you. You wouldn’t have read this far if it wasn’t.

So it’s worth starting to explore what’s holding you back from the compelling impact you could have. That’s why I include that exploration as a key part of the Impact Breakthrough™ program.

When you understand what has been keeping you from having the impact that calls to you, that’s a big step toward having it.

Even then, understanding your fear, naming it, will not allow you to have a convincing impact.

That’s because it’s not your fear that’s holding you back. It is your armor, what you have chosen to defend yourself. It’s whatever you wear so you don’t have to feel so vulnerable.

Note that I said that I ‘have’ fear of visibility, not ‘had’. I am still afraid, and it shows up in the most annoying and constant way, at the most inconvenient times.

What’s different now is that I’ve dropped the armor. I keep dropping the armor, even after I’ve donned the suit once more. I keep dropping the armor over and over again. That’s what allows me to be on video, webinar and teach about impact, so I can have MY impact, which is to support and inspire you to change the world.

What is the cost of having no impact?

You miss out on everything. You miss being and sharing the unique essence of who you are and what you came here to contribute. We lose what you bring us with your impact, in your unique way of changing the world.

Your impact matters. You matter. What prevents you from doing it?