Overcoming Fear: a guest blog from FPGW Board Member, Tayler Miles.
I’m not well equipped.
I don’t have the time.
I don’t have the resources.
There’s other people that will do it and probably do it better than me.
These were all reasons that I gave to keep myself from volunteering.
Little did I know, they were all rooted in one thing – fear. Fear that I wasn’t good enough for the job. Along the way, as I forced myself to go outside of my comfort zone, I realized that the fear I was facing was so much smaller than the fear that families face every day at Family Promise of Greater Wichita (FPGW). This realization really helped me break out of my shell, and start asking the question: What more can I do to help?
When I first started volunteering for FPGW, I would always help with set-up or tear-down at my church, West Ridge Community Church, which has been a Host Congregation since the beginning. I didn’t have to do the volunteer training, it didn’t require much of my time, and I didn’t have to interact with families and face my fear. But one day, my friend called me up and asked me to help her serve a meal. I naturally could not say no because I’m a classic “Yes Woman.” I didn’t even have to cook, I just had to show up and sit down with the families and eat a meal. Pretty simple.
At this time of my life, I was leaving my house after laying my 5-month-old son down for bed. He was back at home with my husband with a roof over his head, in a cozy crib, with a sound machine, sleep sack, etc. Meanwhile, the beautiful woman sitting across from me was feeding her 8 month old son in a church gym and was about to lay him down for bed in a church class room in a pack-n-play that was provided by the program. She humbly shared with me that they entered the program three months prior (when her son was 5 months old like my son!) and it hit me: What would I do if I was in her shoes? How would I feel? Confused, lonely, helpless, afraid.
As this beautiful, strong mother shared some of her story with me and I realized the fears that she faced along the way, I knew that I didn’t have to be “good enough” to be sitting with her at the church while she ate her meal and fed her son. I just had to be there.
Tayler Miles serves as a member of the Family Promise of Greater Wichita Board of Directors and is a passionate community volunteer.
