Today’s topic is one of my favorites. Fear is an unpleasant or distressing emotion aroused by impending danger or pain, and this emotion is often caused by our imaginations. A lot of things have happened to me in the past 12 months, and I feel like fear and I are best friends. We all have fears and that is normal, but allowing our fears to get in the way of our own happiness is unhealthy mentally and physically.
This is the year that I am putting my fears away in a storage room and going for my dream- the dream of bringing love, beauty, and truth to the world. This dream starts with my boutique opening on November 1st.
Here is an inspirational chapter out of Steven Gaffney‘s book, Honesty Works! entitled “Overcome Your Fears” that I thought you might want to read and give some thought to this week.
Fear is a normal and appropriate response to many of the challenges we face in life. The problem comes when fear becomes a reason for not accomplishing something. The reality is that we often do things in spite of fear – we ride scary amusement park rides, meet future in-laws, go on job interviews, or go sky-diving. Fear is not the real reason we do not do something; it’s just an excuse we allow ourselves to use in order to get off the hook.
For instance, fear of public speaking is one of the top fears people have. Yet few of us never speak in public! We may dislike speaking in front of large audiences, but we can learn to control the fear. Johnny Carson, Carly Simon, Carol Burnett and Barbra Streisand all had fears of performing in public – yet, they became very successful. They learned techniques to handle and overcome their fears.
The truth is that fear does not stop us from doing anything; we stop ourselves.
Here are five tips to help you gain control and overcome your fear.
1. Channel your fear into useful energy and actions.
Instead of bottling up that nervous energy, channel it into actions, such as preparation or planning. Walter Cronkite said, “It is natural to have butterflies. The secret is to have them fly in formation.” For example, if you are nervous about a job interview, write down interview questions and answers you are worried about, then practice them out loud. You might even take a practice ride to the interview site or prepare your interview outfit the day before. Do not bottle up your fear – use it.
Click here to learn the remaining five tips to overcoming your fears. How will you take action today?
