Give Fear a Kick to the Curb

We all face fear in different ways. Some of us eat, others sleep, some work, and still others find a creative way to direct their anxiety. The point Carrie Fisher is making is to get up and do it anyway. By allowing fear to create a wall, a barrier between our desire and our willingness to do something we give fear more power than it deserves. When fear wins we grow weaker in our own mind and the problem or goal we face appears to get bigger than we can handle.

Long ago I learned a great acronym for fear – false evidence appearing real. Fear is like a paper wall, it looks insurmountable and yet in reality it can be broken down very easily. All we have to do is give it our best effort and before we know it that paper wall will crumble. The hard part is not letting fear get into our heads and prevent us from action. As we all know that is easier said than done.

One other thought about fear. It is contagious. The more we talk about it, listen to the horror stories of others and concentrate on the struggles we lose sight of our ability to cope and conquer. There are horrible things happening on our world with this pandemic, yet spending hours listening to so called expertise pontificate about the unknown future only drives fear deeper into our heads. I cannot control nor completely understand exactly what the future will bring, so I choose to focus on what I can control, what I can do. I can control my actions and my attitude, so I spend time doing just that.

Fear will paralyze us if we give it that power. Fear can motivate us to move forward if we use our own power to act instead of stagnate. It sounds likes a simple choice and yet we all know we face these choices everyday. Today, when fear tries to invade your thoughts and prevent you from moving forward, move forward anyway. Give fear a good kick to the curb and walk right by in confidence.