Fear. The dark clouds above us. The monster that lives under our beds and in our closets. The creature in the woods that scratches at your window and growls.
It's always there, waiting to be fed.
We think about tomorrow as if we know what's going to happen. The future is this massive blank space. A canvas, as some might say, that awaits for us to make those difficult choices and create something either beautiful or ugly out of it.
We think of scenarios in our heads that might happen if we make that move or talk to that person. The "what ifs" roll into our heads, and we can't help it.
We look back at our footprints leading up to where we are now and then, suddenly, we find ourselves at the edge of a cliff. Do we make that jump, or do we turn back and crawl back into our beds?
We become so afraid of what lies ahead of us because, whatever it is, requires a whole lot of change and perseverance, something that is a challenge for some of us to acquire because of our self-made fear.
Why should we have to worry about something that's going to happen to us in a year? Or tomorrow?
Why not just save those worries for when the time comes and savor in living in the current moment? Sounds simple, but isn't quite as easy doing so.
From reading a chapter in Jen Sincero's "You Are A Badass" about fear, she basically says that we have a choice to either succumb into the chaos of your mind or suck it up and drown it out. Because, according to her, freedom awaits on the other side of fear.
We just have to be strong enough to endure the temporary suffering.
Instead of using up our energy on focusing on the endless possibilities, the majority of them bad, we could be putting our energy towards actually taking action and completing our goals. It's all about learning how to invest our energy into something that would benefit us, rather than taking up our precious time drowning in our own misery.
One method of fighting our inner demons, in Jen Sincero's words, is: "Envision your challenges from the future, look back on them from a place of victory, and they will lose much of their power to paralyze you."
Another method is to look at your fear from a different perspective, rather than let it push you around. With that in mind, you can also "let the fear of NOT doing the thing you're scared of fuel your quest to greatness." It's important to keep our frequencies high and do our work from a place of power and joy rather than pain, in the opinion of Sincero.
I would much rather live a life full of adventure, rather than overthinking situations that happened or didn't happen yet. If we don't have control over some situations, why should we invest our time with dwelling on them? We could be doing more of the things we love instead.
One day, you just have to tell yourself that you shall fear no longer. and when there does come a time when you find yourself in a tizzy, you need to find a way to push through and be spontaneous. Sometimes, you just got to say, "Screw it," and go for it, instead of thinking too much.
There are so many opportunities out there to have adventures and enjoy life to the fullest, but only some of us are brave enough to pursue them.
As Sincero playfully stated, "To fear or not to fear, that is the question."
