What is fear?
According to the dictionary, fear is a strong uncontrollable, unpleasant emotion caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.
Fear is a common emotion that runs through all our lives and if not curbed on time can keep us locked up in the prison of the comfortable and predictable, which will prevent us from reaching our true potential. Living in fear causes a double conundrum where you’re unfulfilled with the status quo yet afraid to pursue anything better.
When I was much younger, fear was a part of me, living my life based on what people would say. “What if I fail” “what will I wear” and other kinds of thoughts that kept running through my mind based on the environment I grew up and the fear of not meeting up to standard. Until I realized that focusing on my potential is the key to my success. I owe no one my success except myself, that was when I started living.
You must realize that your full potential can only be reached if only you allow yourself. What to do to allow yourself is to stop living in fear.
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I want you to know that fear is a normal emotion that signals a potential threat to your physical or emotional safety. They are common psychological issues among teenagers and youths. A lot of things have been blamed for people’s state of fear, but blaming those things has never helped anyone solve their problems. It’s time to take ownership of your emotions and transform your life.
Fear has become a maladaptive lifestyle, influencing everything you think, feel and do. Living in fear keeps you stuck in a self-perpetuating cycle of defeat and frustration. Exploring your world becomes almost impossible because you’re just scared for no reason at all.
A larger percentage of youths and teenagers that live in fear is as a result of peer pressure, inferiority complex, kind of parents and guardians that raised them, childhood experience and lots more. You need to look beyond those factors above and move forward.
Ways to Stop Living in Fear
1. Know the source of the fear
If you’re living in fear, your anxieties have escalated to the point that they’re running your life for you. You’re thinking about your worries constantly without much mindfulness as to what’s behind it. To stop living in fear. You must be able to pinpoint what’s causing it, note them and begin to work on them. You begin to walk in consciousness that your fear can never happen to you.
2. Not settling for less
Most people often give up on what they want because they believe that reaching their goal is beyond their abilities. They continue living in fear and settling for less thinking their goals are unattainable, so they shouldn’t try at all. But I want you to know that the most successful people foster a growth mindset and this is what you must inculcate to rise above fears. work on your mindset and don’t settle for less.
3. Learn that pain brings valuable insight
There isn’t one successful person in the world who hasn’t had to overcome major obstacles. Painful experiences that can help you define what you want and what you don’t want in life. Experiences like failures, setbacks, disappointments and so on bring fear into hearts but when fear wants to set in, picture someone you admire so much and has faced adversity. Trust me, they wouldn’t have achieved the success ladder if they did not learn to stop living in fear.
4. Be positive about your thoughts
Next time fear wants to drop on your heart, try changing your posture and adopting a power pose. It can make you feel more confident and less fearful. If what comes to your mind at all times is fear and the thoughts of you can’t do it, then your action will speak volume and you will be less confident. But if you think of positive things and you act them out then you’re building your own confidence.
5. Know that failure is inevitable
I want you to accept a truth that before success comes failure. It’s just part of the process. But I want you to know that failure provides insight and inherently corrects the faulty ways of approaching a problem.
There is no teacher as impactful as a sting of failure and no lesson in resilience better than the burn of rejection.
But if you use these experiences as unique information to adjust your strategy and approach the next time, you will have an advantage that no one else does with the right mindset. You can change your story and say goodbye to living in fear. You have to decide that your dreams are more important than your fear of failure. Make the decision today to master your fears and start existing as the most joyful, successful version of yourself.
{Read: Overcoming the Fear of Failure}
6. Talk to God about it
The Bible says we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father. God is not in support of fear, that’s why we have the grace of adoption as children of God. You can confess this scripture daily and other words of the Bible that speaks against fear. Pray to God to give you boldness in all areas of your life. Then watch God transform a fearful lad to a confident champion in the society.
Conclusion
Fear can make you completely powerless and useless, but if you work towards overcoming your fears, you are empowering yourself to lead a full and happy life.
{Related: How to Stop Living in Fear}
What do you do to overcome fear? I’ll like to hear from you in the comments below.
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