As parents, it's our job to teach children how to navigate the waves of life – how to maintain a positive attitude and confidence even when the waves are more down than up. It's not always an easy job, especially when we're feeling down ourselves. One of the hardest jobs I've discovered – at home and at work – is to help children (and employes) to face trouble, fears and challenges while maintaining confidence. Teaching them how to tackle fears head on – instead of avoiding them - is an important lesson.

I also believe if you're going to teach something, you need to do more than just talk about it. You need to be an example with your actions as well as your words. I try to remember that in everything that I do, whether it's working hard to train for a marathon (teaching my kids about setting goals and carefully planning to reach them, not giving up, etc.), getting a shot (recognizing that although something might hurt, you'll be okay), or overcoming a huge obstacle at work (working hard and not giving up).

I'm a very claustrophobic person. I'm so paranoid of being trapped that one time I completely panicked when I was in a North Face store and tried on a down jacket and the zipper got stuck. The jacket was zipped up to my neck and I couldn't get it off. My face turned bright red and my eyes filled with tears. My husband was of course laughing very hard at my completely irrational fear of being stuck in a jacket – but now you have an idea of just how seriously claustrophobic I am.

So when my Doctor recently ordered an MRI for my dislocated shoulder, I literally got teary eyed just talking about it. This has always been one of my biggest fears. I had options to take medicine to calm myself down, as offered by the Doctor. I declined. It's not always easy to face your fears but I do believe if I'm going to tackle them, it's got to be clear-headed and straight on.

I practiced my meditative breathing, and asked friends and social community connections if they had any advice. I was given some good tips to wear headphones and an eye cover. (Can I tell you I am breathing heavier just writing this?!) As I laid down to get into the machine, I could feel myself starting to panic. It's hard to convey how much mental fortitude it took to talk myself out of that panic attack. But – with the help of the kind MRI Assistants and a friend who held my hand the entire time – I did talk myself out of it. While in the machine, I also managed to keep my eyes closed (with no eye cover)… Which sounds easy, but it's kind of like driving by a car accident… you know you shouldn't look but you sort of want to. At the very end, while they were moving me out of the machine, I did open my eyes for a split second … And realized that I should have stuck to my original plan to not look!

So - I lived. And I had yet more lessons to teach my sons:

• Fear can be overcome
• You can overcome it with mental fortitude (and support of friends)
• Make a plan on how to face your fear and run through it in your mind
• Don't give up – keep going
• The only way out is through

How have you been an example of overcoming fear for your children or employees? What tips do you have for "Feeling the Fear and Doing it Anyway"?