FEAR is a powerful emotion. It’s the anchor that mires us in place, afraid to step forward into the unknown when we need to make a critical decision. We struggle in our minds. The one difference between those who do and those who don’t is that those who take the action, feel fear and act anyway. Fear can hold us back so that we stay in a comfort zone that, after a while, becomes so uncomfortable, we may be forced to act.
The acronym for FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real or F*&k Everything And Run. We tell ourselves this big story that makes us afraid. And the more we play the reel in our head, the larger our fear looms. It becomes so ominous that we want to give up and bolt.
We are the only ones who can surmount our fear to achieve our goal. So how do we do this? I have a few ideas:
- Prioritize. Whatever you fear has a priority in your life. What is it? Can you put it in perspective against other preferences over which you need to act? Do the most critical priority, which will give you the biggest gain in terms of confidence.
- Visualize your outcome. See yourself acting on what you fear. What is the result? Try it on. What does it look and feel like? Avoid superimposing your feelings of fear onto your visualization.
- Tell that little gremlin on your shoulder—the one chattering at you about how you cannot do such and such or will fail, or any number of possible outcomes including the plague and violent storms—to take a hike. Walk your inner gremlin to the curb.
- Start with a small step. Set a little achievable goal to accomplish and build on the success of that. You’ll gain the confidence to take the next bigger step.
- Tell yourself that there are no mistakes, only learning. Jason Mraz, in his song I’m Yours says: “You win some, you learn some.” He talks about not hesitating. You may hesitate and hem and haw and dig in or fight with yourself about not wanting to act, but you will always learn from taking action. You learn by taking informed, calculated risks. And you come out stronger.
Make a new acronym for FEAR: Face Everything And Revitalize.
What are you sitting in fear of right now? Break it down into baby steps and step out of your comfort zone. You can do this. You got this!
Photo courtesy of Sydney Rae on Unsplash.com. Sound editing courtesy of Andrew Howarth.