Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision. ~ Winston Churchill

??? What are you afraid of ???

Failure, Rejection, Making a fool of yourself, or Success

Regardless of what it is that you fear, it is important to remember that you are not alone.

FEAR is something that we all feel and experience at one point or another in our lives. It is the skills that we learn to be able to deal with it that make the difference.

It is a very natural emotion, and one humans have had since being put on earth billions of years ago.

If you only look at FEAR as a negative emotion, what I will share with you here will reframe your thinking.

FEAR can actually be a good thing. Over the years it has played a crucial role in the life of our species.

I've been using these analogies a lot lately, I'll tell you why if you join me in this conversation!

You are one decision away from a totally different life, where you can change not only your life but so many others.

But the FEAR of making that one decision is what holds so many people back!

It's like an ongoing Cage Fight.

My faith is very strong and has been right more times than not; it has brought me through so many of the difficulties that I have come across on my journey through life.

So my money is on my Faith every time because if you run the numbers, Fear is fighting out of its weight class.

Fear has always been trying to detour me from having, being, doing, earning, and even living more life.

It has always been in the back seat trying to tell me that I'm not worthy, physically or intellectually capable enough.

The Secret Weapon that I have in my arsenal when dealing with Fears is to be able to break them down and classify what type they are.

First, there are the ones that are there to protect you from getting severely hurt (like the first ones your parents teach you when you are toddlers) enough to break/ damage/ and leave potential scars like being told that something is dangerous. Like it is hot, if you touch it, YOU WILL UNDOUBTEDLY be scalded or burned.

This is our psychological defence against potential threats to our well-being. "Fear" in these situations can be extremely helpful.

The other types of fears can be much harder to appreciate. The ones that are buried down deep in our subconscious, creating limiting beliefs, and holding us back from doing things that will actually improve our lives.

Then there is the Fear that you learn as you get into middle school. This is where the stakes really aren't that high and the what ifs, and buts start creeping into our subconscious being smart-mouthed.

By High School, the stakes haven't changed quite so much, but the space that the What Ifs and Buts consume has grown and their mouths have gotten louder & snarkier.

After High School or once we have gotten out and experienced some of the big bad world on our own, we begin to see that the world doesn't revolve around us. That is when we start feeling the pressure of the stakes weighing so heavily upon our now little shoulders, and those Fears now aren’t just yelling from the back seat. They are cursing, throwing things, spitting, and biting. They are like a demon child in the back seat having a conniption trying to make you give in to their desires. Now we need to really start weighing the value of the stakes VS the rewards. And calculate the risks with our educated guesses. But we all know if there is no risk, there is no reward. If you're taking a risk, make it a calculated one.

The trick to dealing with the fear is to first determine which one it is. You can’t make it go away just as you can't make that child you have to go away. But what you can do is to keep your eyes focused safely on the road ahead of you, make any corrections needed to your GPS for rerouting for real safety concerns, tune down or mute the noise and behavior coming from the back seat, and let them eventually wear themselves out.

Lol, I just thought it must actually be like a police officer having a drunken, drugged-up, jacked-up subject in the back seat of the patrol car, taking them in to lock them up to protect them from hurting themselves or others any further.

My friends allow yourself to have a curiosity that is greater than your fears!!

Which is greater, your FEAR of failure, or your desire for success?

If it is a desire, what are you doing to make it come true?