What are you scared of? Face your fears
Most of my life I had a major fear of heights, in fact I still do. There is something about being in the air that really doesn’t sit well with me. That all began to change when I went on my very first flying experience this year and now I can’t wait to get back up in the air.
Fear is something I have suffered from for quite a major part of my life. Fear is something we all experience and is linked to our bodies fight or flight response. Causing us to either fight the threat or run away and seek safety. Fear can also cause paralysis meaning we don’t take any action and just sit with the fear hoping it will go away, news flash it won’t.
At the start of 2021 I took the first step to begin understanding my fears. I wrote them all down and there was a lot of them including a fear of failure, rejection, looking the fool, confrontation, trying something new and a fear of heights. The list went on and on.
When I looked at the list I asked myself “what do all my fears have in common?”. I can remember when I first started running, I weighed close on 21 stone and I chose to do my running in the early mornings because I was scared that anyone who saw my fat ass running would sling some pretty accurate insults at me.
The fear? Being fat shamed in front of a crowd of people. So I went around the problem and ran in the early hours. Over the course of 12 weeks I developed the confidence to run in front of people during anytime of the day or night.
What I noticed was that it was only through taking action did I begin to undo the hold that fear held over me. A lot of the fears on my list were a clear sign of someone who wasn’t taking action against sorting the fears out, instead I was happily bumbling along with my fears sitting in the driving seat.
I was scared of being fat shamed so I ran earlier in the day and built my confidence. The same strategy can be applied to all manner of areas. Converting your fear into fuel so that you can continue to grow yourself further and further.
“Convert your fears into fuel and you’ll be unstoppable”
- First off, that feeling of fear you have is a sign, a sign you’re not dealing with the problem and that action is needed.
- Begin to implement an action plan converting your fear into fuel to help you overcome the challenge or fear
- Seek out things you are scared of, whether it's public speaking, heights, sale calls or asking that girl for a date.
Today I am no longer frightened of being fat shamed, I’m capable of some public speaking events and I’m taking on the challenge of overcoming my fear of heights.
Overcoming fear takes time, investment and continuous purposeful practice. It isn’t going to happen overnight and you’re going to want to give up before it gets better. Never give up.
Keep going.
Remember resilience is success.
Hope this helps
