“Your largest fear carries your greatest growth.” ~Unknown
This quote is so powerful. Think about what your greatest fear is or was. I don’t mean the fear of spiders or of roller coasters. I don’t even mean the fear of losing a loved one. I mean what is your deep down deepest fear. What is the thing that keeps your from reaching your full potential?
A tough question especially for a Friday when you are thinking about the weekend and relaxing, right?
If you can’t think of something you are afraid of, think about a fear that you overcame. Maybe it was speaking in front of a group. Maybe it was confronting someone who said or did something unkind to you. Maybe it was stepping out of your comfort zone. Maybe it was leaving an unhealthy relationship. We have all conquered fear at one time or another – large or small.
Fear can be a paralyzing thing. It can take you from confident and self-assured to a pit of misery and self-destruction. It can create a mental suffering that effects every aspect of your life. Fear can take a strong woman and reduce her into a self-pitying, vulnerable little person.
Now that you remember that fear that you conquered, think about how good it felt when you overcame it. When you stepped out of your comfort zone and succeeded. When you spoke in front of the group and were applauded. When you left the unhealthy relationship and gained your life back.
How did you feel? Did you feel like you left a heavy weight behind? Did you feel like you had just won one of the hardest battles and now it was over? Did you feel as light as a feather?
Do you feel stuck in the past or terrified of the future? Is there a fear that is keeping you from being all you can be?
Here are some lessons I have learned that might help you in your battle against fear.
1. Take responsibility for your feelings.
We live our lives thinking others cause our discomfort and unhappiness. When the truth is that YOU are the writer of your own story. Take responsibility for feelings like anger, sadness, or jealousy. It may be difficult, but the truth is that no one else can control what you think or feel.
2. Deal with the present moment.
You may dislike the way a certain person or situation makes you feel and you can try to distance yourself from it, but you can’t distance yourself from your own feelings. Where you go, they go. Ignoring your emotions won’t make them go away. Create a healthy output for unwanted emotions (i.e.: dancing, painting, writing, singing), you will be amazed at how it changes your perspective.
3. Trust fear.
Fear only exists within the mind; it does not exist in the world outside of us. It’s an imaginary barrier we create for ourselves, a barrier that usually appears right before something great is ready to take place in our lives. When we make the choice to confront our fears there is a reward waiting on the other side.
So, what fear are you ready to conquer so that you can move forward in the New Year?
Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!
Hope Wissel 