Zig Ziglar asked, “What would you do, right now, if you weren’t afraid?” Answer that question, write it down, then do it. Right now.
Fear is a killer, a preventer, a defeater. It can defeat us before we begin. It can beat us under pressure. It can stop us from doing our best, and sometimes from doing anything at all. But fear has no substance of its own. It exists, beginning to end, in our minds only.
That doesn’t mean there is no danger, that we should not be wary at times. Parachuting from a plane should increase our fear. So should jumping from the top of the barn with a bed sheet. One is stupid, the other is, well, even more stupid. We must be careful, of course, but we must act despite our fear.
Confrontation conquers fear. We should act in faith, we should be courageous, we should not be troubled in troubling times. Those all are choices.
Each of us has a power that is irresistible when used correctly. We are agents unto ourselves; we can think and act with certainty; we can proceed with confidence; we are authorized to act with wisdom. Kill fear with action. Right now.
Gavin de Becker has written a lot on this subject, although he refers to the kind of fear that you're writing about as "anxiety" rather than true fear. According to de Becker, anxiety is worry about a future that hasn't happened yet, whereas fear is a physiological response to an immediate and real threat. Anxiety freezes you; true fear propels you into action. It's an important distinction, I think.
Posted by: Jeff Carr | February 9, 2006 6:06 PM | Permalink to Comment