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Face Your Fear; the Result Might Be Amazing

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(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it" -Victor Hugo

Do you remember back to when you were a kid? When you blew out the birthday candles to make a wish with the belief that it would actually come true? Or when you pinned a towel to your shoulders and played the superhero character that you just knew you would grow up to become? Or when you found joy in the simplest of activities, such as blowing bubbles through a wand? Do you ever look back and wonder what happened to that person?

We all come into this life with a positive view of the world. We were excited and imaginative, and we saw the entire universe as our playground. Then somewhere between college and middle-age, many of seem to lose that optimism for life. Perhaps this stems from telling ourselves that we have to “grow up” and become more realistic. Or perhaps it’s caused by those doubts that creep in our heads, making us wonder if we are just not good enough to ever be that superhero. Or could it simply be the result of running ourselves ragged trying to meet the demands of those around us. Whatever the cause, we began creating barriers and limitations for ourselves that caused us to either try, fail, and give up; or even more prevalent, caused us to fail to try at all.

I believe the biggest cause for changing that youthful excitement and optimism can be summed up with one word: “fear.” At some point we became afraid, and we let that fear stop us.

As I do public speaking about my entrepreneurial journey I am often asked, “How did you overcome your fears? How did you stop being afraid?” The simple answer is that I didn’t. I don’t think I have ever stopped being afraid of things – but what I did was stop letting my fear stop me. I decided it was okay for me to feel the fear, because frankly I couldn’t stop from feeling it, but I was going to do whatever needed to be done anyway. Once I decided to acknowledge I was going to press forward in spite of my fears, it was like a huge stumbling block was suddenly removed from my path.

I read a great book by Susan Jeffers in my early 20s about overcoming fear called “Feel the Fear…and Do It Anyway.” The book helps explain that having fears isn’t something to be ashamed of, as everyone has fears. Rather, the book suggests that when we feel afraid we should think through the possible outcome that is causing our greatest fear and then realize that even if that outcome were to happen we would find a way to work through it. Sure, having to work through a negative outcome may not be easy or fun, but we will, in fact, find a way to move beyond it. By going through the exercise of dealing in our minds with the worst-case scenario, it allows us to mentally shift our thinking from “I can’t handle it” to “I will get through it.” Thus allowing ourselves to move forward in spite of our fears.

“You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just literally 20 seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.” (Benjamin Mee: We Bought A Zoo)

C.S. Lewis once said, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”  It doesn’t matter what stage you are in your life right now. It doesn’t matter how young or how old you are. At any point in time you can decide to change your life, to go after the things you really want. Would it be taking a risk? Perhaps. Anytime we take a step into the unknown we are taking a risk. That’s why it’s called the unknown. So what if you don’t like the unknown once you get there? Then you will find a way to change it or to move past it. You will. And what if the unknown turns out to be more amazing than you could have ever imagined it to be? Well, there is only one way to find out, isn’t there.

~Amy Rees Anderson (follow my daily blog at www.amyreesanderson.com/blog )