Life outside fear

“Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence, and the downward spiral begins.”- Charles Stanley

Arachnophobia, Ophidiophobia, Acrophobia, Agoraphobia and Cynophobia. This is just a brief list of some of the phobias that exist in the world that we live in. The oxford dictionary defines a phobia as: “An extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something” The phrase that stands out for me in that definition is “irrational fear”. Now to do something irrationally is to do it in an illogical way. Fear on the other hand is to be afraid of something. According to the oxford dictionary fear is “an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.” If I lost you along the way, hang in there I am getting to my point fairly soon. The phrase I want to highlight from the definition of fear is “threat of” As far as I understand a threat is basically something that you may receive from something or someone with the intention to do some damage. The most important thing that we should take from that is the word “intention” that means that it hasn’t done anything to you as of yet, or perhaps has the potential to do something but it hasn’t.

Many people are not where they’re supposed to be because of fear. They’re too scared of the possible outcomes of something, that they would rather settle for less than go out and chase they’re dreams. Many people want success but they’re fear of failure is greater than their desire for success. I was surfing the internet and to my surprise I found out that there’s a phobia of failure called Atychiphobia. Looking back at the unpacking of the definition of phobia that means that it’s unreasonable to even be having this fear but we do because we have given fear the power to dominate our lives. The fault in our stars illustrates this message perfectly especially with the cigarette metaphor. The only time a cigarette kills you is when you give it the power to do so by lighting it but if it’s just in your mouth and not lit, then it’s lifeless. Fear is lifeless but daily we choose to give it life. Fear gets in the way of many of our passions, dreams and goals not because it’s a law of nature but because we choose to give it power. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Fear will always knock at your door but what you decide at that moment is what determines where you’re going. The beauty of life is that we have the power of choice. Whether you let fear in or not is entirely up to you. It’s all in your mind. Your thoughts are powerful and as I say these words a quote by Norman Vincent Peale rings in my mind when he said: “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” Success is always waiting but the fear of failure is what delays the process. Failure is just an opportunity to get back up and keep trying. Believe in yourself and keep going. Be courageous enough to follow your dreams. Stop settling for less. You were never meant to be “less” but to be the best you can be.

You only have one life. Why not live it in the best possible way?

Life outside fear is where the magic happens.

 

Tumisang Malete