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1988 – How Hard Is It To Turn Your Fears Into Courage?
I was six years old and experienced my first attempt at turning my fears into courage. Sadly, it didn’t work.
Today a bug dropped from the sky and landed in my hair! OMG! I ran, screeched and screamed. WHY WHY WHY! “Get it off” I yelled!
Drama much? Yes. This is because I hate creepy crawlies. This brings me to my Monday Musings and reflection.
As a six-year-old, during summer vacation you spend a lot of time outside.
You play in the garden with siblings and friends, get your hands and clothes filthy, get yelled at – life is good.
One day, I was out in the garden with my older brother and a bug landed on my dress.
I froze! I tried to scream but instead of the scream going outwards it kind of went inwards.
The beast sat there and stared right at me.
YIKES!! So disgusting! The way it looked, the legs, the antennas! YUCK YUCK YUCK!
Somehow from deep within me, I was able to scream and flick the thing off of me! Only for it to land on my thigh!
God help me! Another screech and flick and off it went.
My brother found this extremely hilarious! “Stop shouting – it’s just a beetle, what’s the big deal?”
Really? Did he just ask me that? I can think of a thousand reasons why this is a big deal.
This Was One Of my First Steps Of Converting Fears Into Courage
That day marked my hatred for the creepy crawlies. Do they all deserve it? Probably not. However, I don’t care.
In hindsight, over the years, I had been advertising my weakness. I needed to confront my fears, but it was so hard.
There is no illusion greater than fear.” ― Lao TzuClick To TweetYou see, no matter what you are afraid of in life, be it a fear of bugs, failure, heights, being alone – you need to allow the fear. Now what exactly does that mean?
When your fear arises, you need to face it head on. This is the only way you can turn your fears into courage.
Every heard the saying “Action is the antidote”? Turn your fears into courage by conquering your fear.
Addressing Your Fears
Some fears are healthy – some are not.
Taking steps and actions is the best antidote in turning your fears into courage and knowing you have conquered it.
Do you have any of the following fears?
- A Fear Of Failure
- The Fear Of Being Judged
- A Fear Of Being Abandoned Or Being Alone
- Having A Fear Of Intimacy
- Fear Of Emotional Pain
- A Fear Of Loss
- Constant Fear Of Embarrassment
- A Fear Of Expressing Your Feelings
- Fear Of Rejection
- The Fear Of Death
- A Fear Of The Unknown
Create a new link in your mind, such as FEAR (Embarrassment)<-> Nothing will go wrong)
Transform Your Fears Into Courage And Action
Practice this as often as possible, in order to allow your brain to overwrite the old associations or negative emotions associated with the fear. Do this every day.
Replace the negative reactions and emotions with new and positive ones.
It is a process that you can take in small steps.
Your fears may never completely go away, but can become more manageable.
I still do not like any creepy crawlies. I avoid them and pray they avoid me.
As for any of the other fears listed above (three of which apply to me) I am constantly working on conquering them.
Have you turned away from an opportunity or even a relationship because you were too afraid?
Share your fears or experiences with turning your fears into courage with me in the comments below.
43 comments
Yes, we need to face the fear to get rid of them. But first, we must make up our mind and be courageous to take action. Nice post. I have feared so things but it’s good that I have dealt with them.
Yes you are right,facing our fears are important. I read somewhere that you attract what you fear. So it makes sense to get rid of it.Will use your tips to deal.with my fears.
This is a great post! I know I have been afraid of trying new things at times, but have pushed those fears aside to do them. I have never been disappointed!!!
I think my fear would be fear of emotional pain, because I was so afraid to be in a relationship. I hate feeling hurt and the idea of letting someone in was so hard. But I conquered my fear at last, and I feel happy now honestly. I know emotional pain is inevitable, but I learn that we can choose how to react. Lovely post you have here and such deep content as well.
I think we all have fears about handling the future, health, being rejected and even for many unknown reasons. One of those silly fear I have is dealing with Cockroaches as they scare the hell out of me. My husband tries his best to change my approach on it, but it never gets easier at all. But with my kids around may be things will change sooner, lol!
Fear can really become a barrier if you let it.
Overcoming fear is a greatest challenge! The fear can cause us to do nothing, and therefore resist moving forward. But when we allow fear to stop our forward progress in life, we’re likely to miss some great opportunities along the way. My fear is not to hurt anyone through my words or deeds but sometimes it’s really challenging as we can’t make everyone happy!
I don’t have many fears… besides being claustrophobic. LOL That one is real! Typically I feel like things will work out.
I have many fears. Fears of heights. Fears of failing. Fears of being social at times when I’d rather stay in. I try to push through them. Though I am still fearful of spiders. 😉
Overcoming fear takes practice, and also learning from others’ experiences. And I’ve learned that I must not fear, because if I am always fearful of things, then I will be having a hard time to mature and live the life.
In the beginning I was reading this thinking “I don’t have any fears” and then I read your list and I was like “Uh huh, yep, guess I fear that too” and realized I need to reevaluate my fears!
I have had a phobia for insects for as long as I can remember,as I had an experience with them
But over the years as I have grown, it has slowly subsided
I think facing our fears is really important — it shows just how minute they could be if we looked closer.
The older I get sometimes the more fear I get. Isn’t that weird. I guess it’s because you realize how precious life really is.
I’m with Valerie on this one! I used to be such a carefree person and, it’s only in the last few years, that my fear for EVERYTHING has grown! I’m scared of a lot of things. And I think I always will be. The key thing I remember is I shouldn’t stop living my life out of fear. (e.g. flying in planes is a HUGE fear of mine. But I continue to travel and hope that, each time I do it, I become better at it!)
I think it is a very good thing to do… develop ourselves and face our fears.. the best way I do that is to ask myself what is the worst that can happen.. usually, I can then see that really there isn’t much to be fearful of.
I have a fear of failure! Sometimes it immobilizes me from taking any action (which actually creates failure!). Still working on it!
Omg just love this!!!!! I’m all about trying to find positives and kick butt no matter what the obstical is
Loved this post! I certainly have fears and am always trying to face them and realize my fears are silly because God is watching over me. There is nothing for me to fear.
Overcoming fear is easy at times and miserable at others. Life is a never ending journey of facing fears and obstacles. Beautifully written.
Overcoming fears is so important to move on. I struggle with this so much and need to work through it with the most courage as possible. Thanks for sharing! It was very enlightening.
Very thought provoking piece and it comes at a great time for me as I’m in the midst of trying to deal with one as we speak! Whatever I am doing isn’t working because I keep repeating the same mistakes!
Kyla
I love this. I certainly have fears and I try not to let them get the best of me.
All the fears that you have listed, yes, I do suffer from a few of them – mostly the fear of rejection and that’s the only fear that stops me from doing a lot of stuff.
I definitely can’t handle creepy crawlies. I think my biggest fear is flying though. I do it ALL the time because I live across the country from my family. But, I do have really severe anxiety when I get on a plane. I know my fear comes from a lack of knowledge around the engineering and science behind the plane and turbulence. So I’ve been trying to educate myself more so when the plane shakes, I’m more aware of why it’s happening and how it’s not going to bring the plane down!
Everyone has their fears, for some it may seem funny you are scared of bugs but you’re the only one who knows how it feels. 🙂
The older I get, I have found myself conquering my fears more and more. I often have to what’s the worst that could happen. Once I have my answer, then I say ok and if that happens it happens, it wont be the end of the world. 9 times out of 10, the worst never happens.
My most fear is Death for sure. The more I think about it the more I freak myself out. I guess there is just times I can’t help but think life without me or my family from years and years going on without us it sucks. I wish we could live forever, but I do believe in heaven & reincarnation.
Sheri great job on working out your fears! I think we all have our own little fears bottled up inside. I remember my mom use to tell me never to date outside of my “class” and to never depend on a man. That limited me and yes I avoided great relationships with really wealthy men because of those fears. Hindsight, I am stronger for living through those fears and coming to this point in my life where I am all, “you want to pay my bills? whisk me away to a tropical island? Let me pack!” haha! Seriously, it was refreshing reading that others also deal with their fears courageously! Thank you for sharing.
I’ve always had a fear of failure, as well as heights, different I know, but I think the two were linked; anyway, last year I confronted my fear if heights several times – I was so sad and angry with myself for turning down activities in press trips due to the heights thing…….so, I went in that helicopter, I did that gondola ride, I walked up high mountains and I went on a hot air balloon ride! Do I fear failure still? Well yes, but I feel more able to fight that now! Karen
Wow Karen! Thank you so much for sharing your story with me! You are so courageous! Did you love the hot air balloon ride? it is awesome isn’t it? I lived in Sierra Leone and the only way from the mainland to the Airport was by ferry or helicopter, so it was 45 mins or 7 mins, so I always took the helicopter. Quite loud but great to look down (I know, not so great when you are afraid of heights!).LOL. I am so glad you can now participate it many more activities by conquering your fears. I am inspired by you. Maybe you will Skydive one day and tell me about it 🙂
Have a wonderful Sunday evening Karen.
The Lao Tzu quote sums it up for me. I use to have this fear of not been able to handle my blog all by my self but I swallowed it deep and here I am with much courage as I run and handle this blog all by my self. Our fears can only limit us, if we allow it.
I randomly clicked on this post, but I have to say I love it <3 Thank you so much. This was something I need to read <3 and I agree. You have to face your fears to overcame them. But, sometimes it´s not that easy.
Your list of fears actually is what I am trying to overcome now. Some people have been trying to bring me down, and because I am a blogger, I have fears of rejection, judgment and all that. Thank you for this timely post. What a meaningful blog you have!!
Thank you so much for your kind words Martine. Don’t ever let the words of others bring you down. I know it is easier said than done, but always stand strong in your truth and you will be fine. Have a lovely day and weekend. xoxo
I like this suggestion, to replace fears with positive thoughts & emotions, but first you have to become aware of your fears. That means paying close attention to your feelings & thoughts. And some fears are so unconscious, tough to understanding fully underlying causes! Always a work in progress! Thanks for courageously sharing your wisdom Sheri!
Hi Candace! Thank you for the positive and encouraging words. We are all a work in progress. If we take things step by step, we have the potential to overcome our fears and achieve great things! 🙂
First, I feel really old when you start your story in 1988 as a six year old! Just acknowledging a specific fear is a good first step, only then can you conquer them.
Traveling is a perfect way to address many of these fears! Try to challenge yourself every day and you’ll slowly overcome your hesitations. Great tips!
Addressing fears is something not many people know to do. And you’ve definitely overcome your fear – proof is this post: sharing this experience. However, sometimes it’s also about choosing what fears to overcome: does it really worth it to climb to a spiral small and dark stair just to get on top of a building for a view (and getting down on the same stairs)? I’m a bit claustrophobic and I overcame my fear as people told me the view is worth it. Nope, the view was nice, but not worthy of the whole trip to the stairs. So, like someone said, choose your battles wisely:)
Well, easy to say, not that easy to do. I am currently “fighting” with the fear ot being alone. Of course is not nice, I would love to have a partner loving me, but I don’t want anybody at any cost. I want the right one for me, therefore better to be alone for now (that’s what I tell myself to better accept the situation).
Addressing our fears are part of growing-up. It is a step-by-step process, and when you learned to overcome your fears, all those silly memories will make you laugh (literally). Fears makes us stronger as a person, but we shouldn’t allow these fears to pull-us down. On the contrary, we should pull our fears up, and say goodbye! 😀
This is so true, plus I do think that fear sometimes limits us to do certain things. The best way to overcome your fears is to face them with different eyes, in a more positive way!
This is a really good example of addressing fears or how you were not able to but you now recognise why. Like you said, it takes a lot of courage to be able to address fears head on or even admit to having them – so being able to recognise them and attempt to do something about them is incredibly commendable! Thanks for the good tips about associations and what to do about fear, Sheri. 🙂