Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear. ― Mark Twain
Fear. Worry. Anxiety. There’s so much going on in the world today – five minutes of the nightly news gives us plenty to fear if we don’t have any of our own. If allowed to fester, our fears willingly take over the driver’s seat. They consume us. Take over. Control us. It doesn’t have to be this way. Sure, there’s a lot to be fearful of…too many what if’s out there…so we need to be intentional in conquering our fears.
We have choices to make. We need to be intentional about the choice not to let fear control our lives. For many of us, this means forming new habits. Acknowledging them and then thinking a bit differently about them. Today (and in part 1) we’re sharing a few tips we’ve tried to conquer enemies of fear.
Accept failure as an option
Then we will be more willing to take risks. If we don’t have this mindset, we can all too easily live and work out of our own insecurities and fears. But let’s be honest here, we’re too often so focused on being perfect that we have no tolerance for failure. That just makes failure loom larger. We need to step up, take risks, knowing full well we might fall down. We might fail. But it’s how we get back up that matters. The Japanese Proverb fall down 7 times, get up 8 sums it up. Get up more times than you fall down.
Sometimes we need to seek fast failure, so we can move on. It doesn’t mean trying to fail, but it means making decisions with the best knowledge available and then learning from the outcome.
Adversity builds character…we tend to learn many of our most valuable lessons when we’re pressed…so change our mindset to seeing failure as an education, a learning opportunity. This means changing our perspectives. Instead of viewing all mistakes as failures, try mentally labeling them as learnings or educational experiences.
Stop comparing
It’s the theft of contentment. This goes back to being the best you. Strive to be a better you – not a better version of somebody else. Don’t let the fear of not being good enough rob you of being you. Nobody else can be you as good as you can – so keep that in mind.
Gratitude
It’s hard to be thankful and fearful at the same time. Look at the good things around us. Refocus.
Seek help.
Ask for help…from a friend, mentor, coach, trusted advisor. Get feedback. Strive to increase self-awareness so you can notice when fear is about to take over. Find a community of encouragers.
This doesn’t mean we won’t experience more fear-inducing moments but it does mean if we develop some healthy habits to overcome our fears, then we can apply the same techniques to new fears we encounter. And they won’t seem like the monsters we’ve known in the past.
Be fearless and have fun in 2019!
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