
Fear is a thief.
It robs you of the fullness of life. It is restricting. It is sneaky and once it settles into your mind, it's relentless. Life could be great, and fear will constantly make you wonder what if the worst-case scenario happens. It's a constant rumination on how things can go wrong. This isn't because you're wishing for a negative outcome. For many of us fear is an emotional trauma response. Various life events have placed us in mind states of preparing for the worst. We think that being prepared for it softens the impact of the devastation that detriments our mental and emotional health when life happens to us.
No matter how much you try to control things, life is going to happen. You may as well go with the flow.
In the day and age of social media and technology, fear is everywhere we look. It has been so deeply engrained, some of us have mistaken it for "the way we think". Telling ourselves lies like "this is just the way I am". I believe fear has become deeply intertwined in the DNA of current civilization. We're directly and indirectly programed to fear other people, sickness, accidents, acts of terror and thinking outside the box for fear of judgement or cancel culture. There are so many "what if" scenarios to be thought up. However, there are just as many positive outcomes.
As my life progressed, I realized how much fear I carried. I’d experienced betrayal and disappointment on such a deep level, I began to subconsciously operate in fear. I was oblivious to the fact that I had been using fear to cope with life. Ultimately, it paralyzed me mentally and emotionally.
Overcoming fear looks like facing it. Your freedom is on the other side of the very thing you fear. So, stop running from fear, face it! I've come across two acronyms for FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real and Face Everything And Rise. You pick the one that works best for you. Face your fears, overcome them and continue to bloom.
Acknowledge that you are afraid.
Face the thing you are afraid of and conquer it.
Speak to the situation. Prayer and affirmations work wonders.
Give yourself grace.
Repeat.
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