Success Principle 15 – DEAL WITH YOUR FEAR

 “We come this way but once. We can either tip toe through life and hope that we get to death without being too badly bruised or we can live a full, complete life achieving our goals and realizing our wildest dreams.”

As you move forward on your journey from where you are to where you want to be, you are going to have to confront your fears. Fear is natural. Whenever you start a new project, take a new venture, or put yourself out there, there is usually fear. Unfortunately, most people let fear stop them from taking the necessary steps to achieve their dreams.

Successful people, on the other hand, feel the fear along with the rest of us but don’t let it keep them from doing anything they want to do – or have to do. They understand that fear is something to be acknowledged, experienced, and taken along for the ride. They have learned, as author Susan Jeffers suggest, “to feel the fear and do it anyway.”

The question to ask is this, “why are we so fearful?” Millions of years ago, fear was our body’s way of signaling us that we were out of our comfort zone. It alerted us to possible danger, and gave us the burst of adrenaline we needed to run away. Unfortunately, today, fear is more of a signal that we must stay alert and cautious. We can feel the fear, but we can still move forward anyway.

Now, think of your fear as a 2-year-old-child who doesn’t want to go shopping with you. You wouldn’t let a 2-year-old’s mentality run your life. Because you must buy groceries, you’ll just have to take the 2-year-old along with you. Fear is no different. In other words, acknowledge that fear exists but don’t let it keep you from doing important tasks.

You have to be willing to feel the fear. Some people will do anything to avoid the uncomfortable feeling of fear. If you are one of those people, you run an even bigger risk of never getting what you want in life. Most of the good stuff requires taking a risk. And the nature of a risk is that it doesn’t always work out. People do lose their investments, people do forget their lines, people do fall off mountains, people do die in accidents. But as the old adage so wisely tells us, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,”

Psychologists like to say that FEAR is Fantasized Experiences Appearing Real. Another important aspect to remember about fear is that, as humans, we’ve also evolved to the stage where almost all of our fears are now self-created. We frighten ourselves by fantasizing negative outcomes to any activity we might pursue or experience. Luckily, because we are the ones doing the fantasizing, we are also the ones who can stop the fear and bring ourselves into a state of clarity and peace by facing the actual facts, rather than giving in to our imaginations. We can choose to be sensible.

What is your FEAR? I suggest the next time FEAR knocks on your door, let FAITH open the door, and you will discover it was actually a fantasy! Always remember this promise of God in Isaiah 50:7: “For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”

NOTE: Adapted from Success Principles By Jack Canfield.