BLOG_2019_08_22_Conquer Your Fears and Empower Yourself
Conquer Your Fears and Empower Yourself
22 AUGUST 2019
Do you feel so overwhelmed by fear that it is preventing you from doing something you want to do? Believe it or not, this is a common problem faced by many people every single day.
It stops us from Being Big!
Fear has the power to stop you from taking risks, following your dreams or becoming successful at anything you attempt to do. If you allow it to control you for long enough, it can eventually erode your quality of life, your relationships and keep you locked in a prison of inactivity, and boredom. It can lead you into a life of monotony and resentment. Are you okay with that?
What many people fail to realize is fear is nothing more than a conditioned response. It's a natural reaction to a frightening or unfamiliar situation. Fear tries to protect us; when in fact it may be harmful by stopping our growth. While a sense of fear is usually automatic, there are things you can do to overcome it. Here are three…
1. Check Your Expectations
One major contributor of fear is the prevalence of negative expectations. Do you usually find yourself expecting the worst in every situation? Do you worry obsessively about what could go wrong, rather than focusing on your strengths and capabilities?
If you make a conscious effort to expect the best, see the positive side of each situation and keep reminding yourself that you can handle more than you think, you'll find yourself with much less fear to deal with. Even if feelings of fear do manage to creep into your consciousness, you'll still be able to keep them in perspective and balance them against an underlying sense of confidence.
2. Discredit Your Fears
Experts will tell you the majority of things you fear will never come to pass anyway. While this may be true, it sure doesn't feel that way when fear has a chokehold on you! However, if you look a little more closely at your fears when they arise, you may be able to dismiss at least a few.
For example, if you have a fear of public speaking but you want to give a presentation at your local Chamber of Commerce, you might feel like your entire business reputation is on the line. You may fear stumbling over your words or worry your colleagues will lose respect for you if you don't do a good job.
But is any of this likely to happen? In most cases, no. Rather than spend your time worrying about what "might" happen if you don't give a solid presentation, spend it brainstorming ways to help improve your performance, such as being well prepared, practicing your delivery on friends and family members, writing notes to yourself and so on.
3. Look the Monster in the Eye and Do the Very Thing You Fear
When you remember fear is simply a feeling, it loses much of its power when you tackle it head on. It can't harm you. Except in truly threatening situations, you can choose to ignore it and move forward anyway.
If you weigh the pros and cons in any situation, you may decide the possibility of negative consequences is minimal so there's nothing to stop you from ignoring your fear and going for it!
You will determine this on a case-by-case basis, of course. The point isn't to become reckless with your decision-making but rather to empower yourself to know when a fear is groundless and easily overcome.
Challenge Question
So what are you going to do today to tackle
some of the fears you’ve been facing so you can BE BIG?
