Facing Fear

 “Do one thing every day that scares you.” 

Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Get uncomfortable and face a fear every day.

With a strategy of continuous small steps into uncomfortable territory we are often able to sidestep the biggest barrier to positive change:  Fear.  Sometimes we’re afraid we’ll fail.  Sometimes we’re subconsciously afraid we’ll succeed and then we’d have to deal with all the disruption (growth) and change that follows success.  And other times it’s our fear of rejection or simply our fear of looking like a fool.

The best way to defeat fear is to stare it down.  Connect to your fear, feel it in your body, realize it and steadily address it. Greet it by name if you have to: “Welcome, fear.”  Fear can be a guiding friend if you learn how to swallow it, and listen to it only when it serves its true purpose of warning you when you are in danger.

“The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you. Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” 

  William Jennings Bryan