Don’t Let Fear Hold You Back: Do Something

Fear.

I have let it prevent me from doing things I truly want to do. I have let it stop me from pursuing amazing opportunities and keep me from doing the right thing. I have even let it keep me from sharing my Faith.

Far too many times, I have let fear bully me! And that is absolutely no way to live.

We all experience fear. Like many others, I am scared of spiders and snakes. But obviously that isn’t the type of fear that has kept me stuck. We also experience emotional and social fears. We may have fears of rejection, being judged, failure, or embarrassment. We may have a fear of being abandoned. We may have a fear of success, or the unknown.

All I can say is I believe this is just the nature of a fallen world. But, we can learn to overcome our fears if we practice.

There are multiple social fears I have experienced in my life. As a mostly-introverted and shy person, I’ve always preferred staying “behind the scenes.” For the majority of my life, I’ve written my thoughts and ideas in a private journal, kept a very small, close-knit group of friends, and basically kept to myself whenever possible. When I decided I wanted to start a blog about two years ago, I was pumped about migrating my writing hobby from my journal to the internet. I bought the domain, I created a layout & colors, I wrote a few posts that I had tucked away. And then fear crept in. My blog then became a “someday.” Then someday turned into months. And somehow two years passed by, and here I am.

I’m really good at letting fear talk me out of things. My fear of being judged lurked into my heart and lived there for a while. Will they think I’m trying to appear more important that I actually am? Will they think I’m trying too hard? Will they think my writing is bad?

Just like my fear of being judged, you likely have fears too. And if you don’t, let’s grab coffee because you’re a superhuman and I need to know your secret.

Maybe your fear is holding you back, too. Maybe you aren’t making a move because you fear change. Maybe you won’t commit to your love because you fear getting hurt. Maybe you feel stuck. Whether it’s a relationship you know you need to end, a leap of faith you need to take towards a big goal, a toxic environment you need to leave, or a blog you want to launch, let’s ask ourselves this: What is the WORST that could happen?

If you do the thing that fear has kept you from doing, will you fail? Maybe. But failing makes you stronger and more persistent. If you do the thing that fear has kept you from doing, will the Earth and all of mankind as we know it be destroyed? Likely not.

Therefore, why not just DO IT?

What I’m learning is it’s okay to be afraid. Once we recognize what our fear is, we just have to choose not to be afraid.

So let’s stare our fears in the face and do something. I’m confident we’ll come out as better, stronger people.

———–

*Featured image by Savy Escobar