I want to share with you a personal story that I am inspired to share with you after reading one of Katie Freiling stories about her fears and how she overcame them. Actually opposite to Katie, I did not have my fears growing up except fear of big dogs and swimming. Well later on in life, I learned to swim later in life and developed love for big dogs.

I grew up as the only child in the family. My parents were very protective of me, and I think they had more fears that I was too bold to do what I wanted. I used to be a tomb boy climbing fences with boys and play fighting. I was not afraid of big crowds.. When I was 7 years old my mother told me it would be good for me to act like a girl and suggested to take ballet classes. My biggest fear was the fact that I was not that flexible as all the ballerinas you see on the stage. I learned the hard way – working 2-3 hours every other day and transforming my body from being just a little girl to a professional dancer. I faced an inner barrier and it was a big challenge. I overcame it. I looked straight in the eyes of my fear and moved on.

I never was afraid of trying new things.. I learned to cook and bake at the early age and even burned few cakes. I took ice skating classes since I was 4 years old and competed in running maraphones up to the age of 19. I would say I tried everything. Many things in life..

When I came to America in 1994 I had the biggest fear… It was simply my accent. I was afraid to speak. You know I was a well trained puppy. I could not speak but I could understand. I was literally afraid to open my mouth. I had an enourmous fear of not being understood and laughed at. Of course, it was all inside. For the first couple months I struggled with it until one day I was invited to the President Office to share my experiences as a russian exchange student and I could not speak.. I was sweating and feeling very dizzy. I was thankful to my friends who were with me and they took over the conversation while I was fully embarrased. That day I made a decision and commitment to put aside the fear. I accepted a new theory. My theory was this: I knew English, I could write, I could speak in a foreign language, and I knew that my american friends could not speak Russian if they wanted to do it fast. I saw it as my big advantage to share with people my passion for foreign languages so I took another language to learn and it was French.

Day after day I was feeling less scared. I made commitment to go out and speak. I took classes that required me to speak and be in front of people for whom English was native but for me it was really foreign. I did not care that my accent could be too tough to listen and that I would butcher English. It was me inside overcoming my fear.. I realized later that fear I had about my accent was nothing comparing to other fears …

Later on in life I looked at my accent at something unique… It became something that only belonged to me. My accent was my gem that made me stand out in the crowd in a good way and make people listen to me. That fear turned into blessing.. Today I can speak in the front of crowds, get on the webinar or teleclass and teach to hundreds of people. When I pick up a phone to call a prospect or a client, I smile. I learned to accept my accent and master my English. It took me 20 years to master my English and took me less than a year to over my fear.

I hope my story has inspired you! I do want to encourage you to find your fears and discover the good side of it and see how you turn your fears into something positive that you never expected to.

Watch my video and I hope it will inspire you to overcome fears

(c) Copyright 2009 Tatyana Gann. All Rights Reserved

Tatyana Gann is an high income coach, an online marketing mentor, a social media expert, a professional connector, a mom of two great boys and an amazing hostess. To Learn More About Tatyana Gann, subscribe to her “Attraction Marketing Queen Newsletter”