Dana Gatto
Fear of change. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of never changing.
If you haven’t hit a milestone you want, it’s because you’re afraid. You have to get past that voice in the back of your mind that says you cant. That voice that says what if you fail. That voice that says lets just keep doing what we’re doing, it isn’t that bad. The voice that says you don’t really need it. That voice is FEAR!
Fear can become so strong that you can feel it physically in your chest and upper back. It can be paralyzing. It can feel like a weight is on top of you. It can keep you from breathing deeply. It can give you headaches. It can make you tired.
You have to know that what you are experiencing is FEAR and then you can begin to move past it. Fear is just an emotion, but it is tricky and can feel so huge and heavy that if you don’t learn to use it, it uses you and leaves you unfulfilled and empty. It convinces you of all kinds of things. This is safer, they are all bad, you know this works so just keep it this way, don’t commit to anything in case something better comes along, if you succeed people won’t like you, if you have your s*it together people won’t pay attention to you, if you make too much money people and/or the government will try to take it from you, it will be too hard to keep the success, you’ll make people feel bad about themselves if you let them see how awesome you are, most people are out to get you, don’t trust anyone….but the key is to note all those thoughts feel bad, not good. Its FEAR. These are fears that can limit success and keep you from enjoying life if you listen.
So how can you learn to use fear? Well fear is there with an intention to keep you safe. Unfortunately a safe life is also a boring as hell life! A safe life has no reward, no excitement, no real growth. When you feel fear creep up, ask yourself what you are trying to protect yourself from. Chances are there is no real truth to the feeling. So you tried something in the past and it didn’t work? Who cares! Try it again because this could be the time it does work. So you did something and someone didn’t like it. Who cares! Something bad happened to you in the past. You don’t have to be a victim anymore! Fear is an indicator that there is something you want, and YOU are holding yourself back from it. Worrying about whether or not it will work or if others will approve is a huge waste of life and you can’t ever control every other person’s reaction. So you might as well say F*ck it and do it anyway. If it works you’ll have increased your quality of life, and if it doesn’t you’ll have practice for the next time. Just keep on moving past the fear. Successful people try and try again, they don’t quit. If you never try…you’ll never know.
Something else I have noted is that fear impacts you physically, especially in your chest. There is a tightness and a heaviness that comes with fear. Adding in some cardiovascular exercise can help alleviate the feelings of fear (anxiety, stress-which are forms of fear).
What could you do today to prove to yourself that fear is just an emotion and emotions can change. What are you afraid of? Pick one thing you are afraid of and do it anyway! Your entire quality of life depends on it!
Dana
