Dread.

I hate it. It's the oppressive fear of the unknown. It's a tension and ick that can derail a day, a project or a relationship. It creates anxiety - often inexplicable and illogical. I HATE THAT FEELING. It pops up on me in unexpected places and at unexpected times. Sometimes I can't shake it - ever have a day or season like that?

My normal approach is to go into logic-mode. I try to figure out what's causing the dread, get a handle on it, deal with it and move it out-the-way. My latest dread episode had me puzzled. There was no real logic to the dread I was feeling. I wasn't overwhelmed or overburdened. I wasn't over-thinking or misperceiving. My usual tactics of getting to the root of the dread weren't working. When I couldn't decipher the cause and deal with that directly, I was forced to deal with the feeling, the emotion, the experience of dread.

Dread can be debilitating. It can paralyze you and keep you from moving forward. To a task-oriented person, that's a big deal. So NOT doing something isn't an option.

So I moved forward anyway. I pulled on every ounce of my steadfastness, tenacity and unwavering stubbornness and I proceeded forward. I fought through the fear. I did it afraid.

Dread is not my friend, but recently it was my teacher. And hopefully, I proved to be a good student.

-Mindy Muller, CFRE, President/CEO of CDP