The Battle Of Fear

What is it about fear that without limbs paralyzes the body leaving the man or woman incapable of moving the slightest muscle? Anxiety levels rise, to leave you seemingly unable to catch a breath almost as if life itself will be snuffed out. The future looks bleak the mind forgets and the mouth closes, the hands shrivel and the feet sink into the ground. What is it about fear that causes the strongest among us to cower in its wake? Maybe I could hope to help others dealing with its wrath by sharing the story of my battle with it.

For years I've fought fear, and I must say I continue to fight this battle to this very day. The war has seen its casualties from dreams ignored and left to die to friends and family members caught in the crosshairs as collateral damage. I have long dreamed of communicating my thoughts and ideas via public speaking, and writing. I’m constantly in thought, information flooding through to my mind from any and every medium you can imagine. The problem? Failure! From personal goals not met and relationships not succeeding I have always allowed fear to then take over and silence my voice. I’m sure something like this isn’t new to many as it is a common theme in many of folks lives i would imagine. Once I fail in one area in my life the logic is that I no longer have credibility to speak in any other area even if I believe strongly that I might have something to say. A tragic and self fulfilling prophecy since it is inevitable that I will eventually fail at something.

However, recently, my losing battle has seen an upside, call it a weakness in the armor of fear an opening that for a long time was invisible to my eyes. What is that weakness you ask? Well in my battle I found that fears power lies in its ability to misdirect. Fears ultimate power lies in its trickery of vision or sleight of hand. See ultimately fear plays on the possible never on what's actually happening in the present. It plays on possible outcomes that are unfavorable and or tragic. Imagine the worst case scenario in the context of your life, fear has learned to use that possibility to convince you that it is the inevitable result of your actions whats more it convinces you that it is true because of past actions that led to bad results. Here in lies my battle with fear, more often than not I find my self captured in the grasp of fears hands because I allow past failures to define my future success. For my logic leaning friends that means although there may be a direct cause from a single bad action to a particularly bad end, it does not follow however that those bad actions will inevitably end in your total demise. I am here to tell you that you can fight back, you can win, do not cower because you have lost a battle. Yes, you messed up that report your boss asked for or you were late again and your boss has seen to it that you are no longer employed. However, unlike other creatures of the earth, you have been blessed with the amazing ability to learn and to grow to reflect and introspect. Your mistake is a catalyst to future success, dig deep find the cause of your problems and systematically uproot it out of your life.

It's not easy but it is very well worth it, Fight and I mean fight because your life depends on it!