Are you fearful or fearless?

I have a good friend whom I met online at another site we visited frequently.  We discovered that we both had an interest in positive thinking and when I wrote a review on a book called "The Secret" it was then that we began our friendship.

Over the months I've come to know my friend as someone who is not only a considerate, selfless and giving individual but he is also someone who doesn't allow the world to keep him down for long.  He's had his share of pit stops in life and the one thing I admire most about him is that when he's having a tough day, you would never know it.

Today I discovered that Pat (my friend) has been quite busy and I'm very excited for him and  the progress he has made in just these past months since I've known him.  Early in our friendship Pat would continually claim that he was not "computer savvy" and his most beneficial attribute was his voice, which he lends quite well to podcasts that we've done.

Well...over the past little while it appears that Pat has shed his non-computer savvy ways and has taken a pro-active step toward sharing his passion for cooking/grilling and has been doing a bang up job bringing his interests to the Net.

I'm a firm believer in the fact that once we begin sharing something that we enjoy, have an interest and/or a passion in we  find ourselves immersed within it and surrounded by others who also enjoy similar things.  Our ideas, our efforts and our interests seem to take on a life of their own, moving us in directions that we may never have expected to be traversing.


Fear of an unknown path is the Stumbler

Of the many of us who are out here there is a large number of people who just don't believe they can attain the success, the goals or the desires they wish for.  Instead, they allow themselves to remain where they are on the portion of the path of life they feel most comfortable with, afraid to move forward for fear that they will fail, be hurt, lose something or someone and worst of all, leave the comfort of what they know for the discomfort of the unknown.

Believe it or not, the fear that is felt when something new or foreign is presented to us, is something that has been inherent in us since a very early age in our life.  Our sub-conscious has a comfortable relationship with our fears - these fears are known to it and thus we are confronted with the doubts, thoughts and hold backs that our sub-conscious "knows" is best for us.



The problem arises when our conscious mind begins a back and forward battle with our sub-conscious.  Our doubts, lack of confidence and eventually our dismissal of a new, yet untraveled or untried goal in our life then becomes a past regret and a dent in our personality that either eats away at us or falls away.

Moving forward despite our ego

Ego?  Yes, indeed.  Ego plays a part in our decision making, sometimes a very large part.  Whether perceived or real, we are programmed to protect our ego against things such as "what will others think if..." or "how can I live with myself if..."  and this combined with the known of our sub-conscious are the basis for our fears as they relate to our future progress.

Baby steps are necessary and recommended then to help us overcome these fears, perceived or real because we owe it to ourselves to improve who we are and where we are in our lives. 

Another very real issue that often holds us back is others.  Others in our lives have a large influence over whether or not we move forward on something that we would like to but are afraid to do.  Sometimes what others think works to push us toward our desire.  For instance a parent who does not want their teen to get a tattoo.  The teen rebels and suddenly they are hiding a freshly gained tattoo on their body.

Rebelling can be good

As adults, if we take on the attitude of the rebelling teen above, imagine how far our efforts could take us.  Rebelling against our sub-conscious and moving forward on a desire, a dream,  a goal that instills fear in us regardless of the fact that there may be consequences we aren't certain we'll handle but are willing to meet head on if we have to.

If you are tempted to drop a dream, a desire or a goal because you don't feel that the outcome will be what you want or it isn't a direction others are telling you just won't work?  If you are fearful of moving forward because you don't believe you have the confidence or the stamina to survive?  Take a lesson from my friend Pat and like him, don't be afraid to put yourself and your ideas, goals or dreams out there because if they are meant to take you places...they will.  If they aren't, then they won't and you will be free and able to move toward something else that can and will. 


The most important thing to take away from overcoming your fear, rebelling, taking a direction that your sub-conscious doesn't know yet...is that you will have no regrets for having given yourself the gift of choice and the confidence to try!


Step away from fear and see where it leads you it may just amaze you and those who believe in you  will have known you could do it all along!


Savanna