When Life Hands You Fear


When life hands you fear, look it over carefully.  Sometimes you have to just ask yourself, "Why am I afraid?" or "What am I really afraid of?"  The answers to those questions alone will give you a lot of insight.  In the moment of fear, it may be hard to ask those questions.  Try not to react but instead just listen, sometimes that is all you need for your fear to reveal its true cause.

Where in your life do you freeze up, unable to speak or move?  This is my challenge for this morning.  Looking back on your life, where were the times where you froze?  I can think of one glaring memory of the time when I was in choir and I had a solo, why on earth I tried out for that I am not even sure, but I did and got a part.  When it came time to sing on stage, I froze unable to make a sound, all the words left me.  I was able to recover part way through, but man it sucked.  That little failure didn't stop me from trying out for plays, which I did and never messed up, it really just made me more determined to do better next time.

Another place where I tend to freeze up is in conflict.  I try my best not to rock the boat and end up not speaking my mind when it comes to standing up for myself or my needs.  This still occurs and I think it is because when I was younger, I would react instead of respond, and I would tend to use words to harm and blame the other person, rather than just speak my needs and worries.  I knew that wasn't a fair fight, so one day I just stopped reacting, but then wouldn't speak my mind for fear I would say something harmful or place blame.  I am currently still working on this fear of speaking my mind openly.  Perhaps that is what this blog is for to openly speak my mind without blame or hurtful intentions.

Negative emotions tend to put up a barrier around responding with good intentions, so you just react instead.  Fear, the base of all negative emotions, is a stubborn SOB.  But I have always believed that on the other side of fear is joy. So where in life does fear keep you stuck?  Knowing that most fears are not life threatening, what is keeping you from facing them?  How do you begin to trust that when fear shows it's ugly face, it is only there to show you the quickest path to personal growth?

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