Fear is stealing the world blind.
Because of fear, we don’t step into our full potential. We don’t take risks and step into the new and unfamiliar. We don’t blast out of our comfort zone and dive into what’s possible.
I say that it’s stealing the world blind because, as a result of fear, so many of us are playing smaller than we need to. And that’s robbing the world of the true potential of our gifts.
Don’t let phantom futures stop you
Have you ever noticed how adept your mind is at manufacturing potential disasters? How it fills in the blanks with bad news and worst case scenarios?
And have you ever noticed how seldom those actually come to fruition? It’s like Mark Twain said, “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
If you look at it statistically speaking, by far the vast majority of our fears never come to fruition. Which means that in most cases we let a phantom future reality stop us from living into our full potential.
Keep a fear journal
To paint a more realistic picture of how your fears and reality line up, try keeping a fear journal. On a regular basis, sit down and take stock of the predictions that your fear manufactures.
Include both the ones that come up in your day-to-day life and the ones kicked up when you step outside your comfort zone and try something new. If you’re like most of us, you’ll end up with a pretty hefty list
After some time has passed, check back in with your list. How many of the fears have actually come true? How many of the fears proved to be nothing but your imagination?
Over time, your fear journal will shine a light on how few of the fears that come up come true.
Get to know your fears
You can also use your fear journal to get to know your fears better. As you add to it over time you can go through and ask questions about the fears you have listed, such as:
- How likely is this to happen?
- What could I do to minimize the risk of this happening?
- On a scale of 1 – 10, how bad would it really be if this did happen? (If we’re objective, sometimes the fear that holds us back amounts to little more than wanting to avoid some discomfort.)
- If this happened, how could I deal with it? How could I minimize its negative impact?
- Where is this fear coming from? Is it really about the feared outcome, or is there something else going on?
When fear comes calling, it’s tempting to run the other way, or stick our head in the sand so we don’t have to acknowledge it. The better you get to know your fear, the less power it has over you.
[image by Jimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha]
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