Post #5: FEAR: Get over it!


Combatting FEAR

Change is inevitable…
Life is about choices…

à Truths that most of us comprehend and hold dear to our hearts, but when it comes to making a major decision in life we tend to fall prey to the fear of uncertainty.

Despite hours, days, weeks and even months of agonizing and contemplation, we usually choose the easier or more comfortable path, as opposed to the one that consists of risks or possible failure.

FEAR—a word I despise with all my being when it comes to bettering your future, and taking a chance at something great.


Why does our society make failure seem like this abysmal hell that no one will ever escape? Instead, why don’t we acknowledge that everyone experiences failure or setbacks in life? In fact, the most successful people (by society’s standards) have failed in life. We’ve all heard how
  • Oprah Winfrey was fired at a news station,
  • Bill Gates’ first business failed,
  • Albert Einstein didn’t speak until he was four years old,
  • Jim Carrey used to be homeless,
  • Or how no record label would sign Jay-Z, so he created his own.
(BTW, speaking of overcoming, that story about Michael Jordan being cut from his high school basketball team isn’t necessarily true; he was just placed on JV instead of Varsity.) 

We champion these celebrities and business moguls for their success as if they were just born that way, with no obstacle standing in their way. Rarely, when looking up to them, do people sit back and focus on how they got through the “failure” in life. And on another note, success is defined in many ways, not just by finances, but that's for another post.

Society wants us to FEAR the unknown; to FEAR what we can’t see, touch or comprehend. But living in FEAR is not living at all. How can you dream, yet have FEAR? How can you muster enough imagination to picture yourself in a place that others would deem impossible (because that in itself is courageous), yet FEAR the risks involved to get to that dream? In my opinion, the fight in you to get to accomplish that dream should be enough to overcome any obstacle that stands in your way, and therefore transcend into incomprehensive FAITH! I have my own personal beliefs about FAITH, and I don’t push them on others. But I believe that having FAITH in something bigger than you, bigger than this troubled world, is vital to making that dream become a reality.

Now I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be hard, and as humans we’re going to have our doubts about ourselves, but I encourage you to push yourself to not let doubt manifest itself into debilitating FEAR that’ll have you saying “woulda, shoulda, coulda” years later in regret.

Forbes offers the following article with 5 Ways To Conquer Your Fear Of Failure:
  1. Embrace your mistakes
  2. Stop trying so hard
  3. Ask for help
  4. Say no when you’re afraid to
  5. Say yes when you’re afraid to  (Click here to go to full article)

The following video was displayed at a recent staff meeting, and it hits on a few points about being a better person and taking the road less traveled despite that road being hard and difficult. Plus, it’s cute! J Enjoy!

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