“Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.”
Judy Blume
The questions we ask ourselves are often the most important ones.
As this way we can get to know ourselves better, reach a higher level of consciousness and find secrets, answers, conclusions and revelations that can later turn into life-changing decisions and steps to take.
And even if you don’t find a particular answer, it’s going to be one great journey.
So set aside a few minutes now to contemplate on one question. Ignore everything else around you. The world can wait for a while.
Focus on imagining in details a life without fear. What would you do if you weren’t afraid?
The thing is that we’re often afraid of so many things that it’s hard to even imagine doing them.
But what if you weren’t afraid? What if you could go out there and conquer the world, do whatever you want, try every challenge you’ve ever thought of, speak up, be direct, take risks, etc.?
I bet you would be successful, happy, free; there wouldn’t be any limitations any more. Because fear is our biggest barrier to achieving things in life, to changing, trying new stuff and feeling alive.
Actually, it’s often so ingrained in us, that we don’t believe that there’s any chance for us to achieve something big, to live the good life, to have adrenaline in our days.
But here’s something you should know:
There are two types of fear. The rational one – that keeps you alive, and the irrational one – that prevents you from living.
And if you make it a habit to notice the second type each time it occurs (such as fear of failure, of people’s opinion, of public speaking, etc.), you’ll be able to say to yourself “Hey, wait a minute! That’s absolutely ridiculous. And I can’t say ‘no’ to such an idea/opportunity just because my mind tells me it’s scary.”
Here’s what Peter Scott from Design a Fearless Life says here:
“I’ve gone skydiving, and I enjoyed the hell out of it, but I would NEVER jump out of a place without a parachute. That’s a rational fear that serves to keep me alive.
Most fears are irrational. But in reality, as human beings, we often convince ourselves that our irrational fears are rational.
As a practical action step…find something that you’re afraid of that is an irrational fear…something that’s not going to cause you physical harm, drain your bank account, or destroy your relationship. And then do something to prove to yourself that it’s irrational.
Once you’ve found this irrational fear, make the commitment to get over that “fear” today by doing the thing you fear.
You need to do something that is a radical shock to your comfort zone. It needs to make your knees shake, your palms sweat, and put your heart in your throat.
And when you go to bed tonight you will have done something different, and you will wake up tomorrow with a new past. You repeat that for a couple of days, and you’ll realize that the shit that you’re afraid of is an illusion. IT DOES NOT EXIST.”
You need to realize that if you haven’t faced your fears, you haven’t truly lived. And that’s so much wasted potential.
You owe it to yourself, to society and the world in general, to get out there and do every single thing that you don’t want to do, feel uncomfortable with, makes you anxious, or else.
And as all successful people that are living a fearless life have discovered, the only way is to simply do it.
Having time to analyze it gives you the chance to play different scenarios in your head, often the worst possible ones, to worry and think of excuses. And if you do that for some time, you give up. And you keep living in your comfort zone.
So get out there today and face your fears!
Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.
Dorothy Thompson
See also:
Fear is the root of your problems
Let go of fear by stopping the stories in your head
5 ways to destroy the illusion of fear
