Fear can be a driving force in your life. Here is how you can use fear as a motivational tool that will help you accomplish your goals.
Don’t Let Fear Control Your Life
The Importance of Understanding Fear
There are many aspects in life that we can’t control. It’s important to focus on what you can control, and that starts with controlling you, your thoughts and your actions. Fear can keep us from pursuing our goals and make us feel inadequate about ourselves. We oftentimes overthink things and let fear take the wheel. This can inhibit our growth and leave us feeling uninspired and unempowered. If you focus on what makes you afraid, you won’t pursue new experiences, relationships or goals.
Getting to Know Fear
Resisting fear is a problem. We sometimes look at other people and bask in their supposed ability to overcome their problems without fear. However, the truth is that they fear things just as much as we do. The only difference is that successful people have learned to become intimately acquainted with their fears. This means that they dedicate time and energy to understand what is making them afraid and work through it. Everyone is afraid of something. However, overcoming fear is a skill that can be developed to help you move forward and achieve success. Practicing mindfulness is one tool that can help you face your self-conscious fears. It not only helps you overcome these fears but also helps you become more relaxed and engaged. Journaling is another helpful tool in getting to know your fears.
The Truth About Fearful Thoughts
The brain is constantly thinking of ways to get us to stay in a safe place — our comfort zone. You might be afraid of that next public speaking engagement when it is your turn to present at work. Your mind will bring forth thoughts of things that could go wrong and scare you from even wanting to attempt to speak. However, the truth is that those things are simply just thoughts, and they have not happened yet. Understanding this and developing your ability to push those thoughts aside will help you tremendously. One technique I use is to breathe slowly and deeply and remind myself that even if I were to bomb the presentation, it wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen in life. Instead, I focus on how well it could go and all the preparation I put into my presentation. Practice this the next time you need to get through something that is scaring you in life.
Overcoming Your Fears
Any life coach will tell you that not becoming acquainted with your fears allows them space to take the wheel in your life. Think critically about what is making you afraid and why that may be the case and use that information to gently assure yourself that everything is going to work out. You control your destiny, not your fears. Now, what would you do if you weren’t afraid?