6 Insidious Ways Fear Takes Over And Robs Us Of The Life We Were Born To Live
Our souls are depending on us to live fearlessly.
ROMAN ODINTSOV from Pexels When time seems abundant, we all tend to get complacent and play it safe. When we feel we have years ahead of us and plenty of time at our disposal, we have a penchant for “waiting for another day” to go after our dreams and aspirations.
Oftentimes, it is only when we are faced with the finite nature of life that we finally decide to claim that which fear tends to make us shy away from.
In many cases, we are forced to evaluate how to spend our remaining days on earth and it is under this lens that the pursuit of the once impossible now seems possible and more importantly, necessary. In reality, we have never had anything to lose; the endgame is always the same.
We run out of time on earth and, with it, regret makes an appearance; regret at not what we did in this life, but instead that which we failed to do.
6 Ways Fear Robs Us Of The Life We Were Born To Live
Fear is often the impetus that keeps us from fully pursuing our greatest dreams and it is our failure to face fear that keeps us imprisoned in a riskless life that is devoid of excitement.
1. We tell ourselves we “can’t” because, in reality, we “won’t” pursue our dreams.
We tell ourselves stories about why we can’t do something as opposed to seeing that we “must” do everything that makes our hearts race just a little bit faster.
2. We convince ourselves that we have everything to lose, but the truth is the opposite.
Each of us has been afforded the privilege of living this life. We are the Divine Expressing Herself through us and our fear inhibits that expression.
When we come to understand that we are Divinely Guided and Protected, we can neutralize our fear and recognize that the Universe is rigged in our favor. When we live fearlessly, the Universe supports our dreams, aspirations, and intentions.
This is faith. This is knowing that each of us has been sent here to remind one another that there is absolutely nothing riding on this experience.
The question then becomes, “How bravely would you live if you knew nothing to lose?”
3. We are consumed with a fear of failure.
Failure isn’t possible because no matter what we choose (we like to label things as “good” or “bad”), these are simply expressions of our Divine Consciousness. We are taught to fear —this is not who we are.
Fear as a mechanism is simply to keep us alerted to impending danger. Once the danger has been averted, fear no longer serves us.
We, however, remain in the fear state throughout much of our life when evidence suggests that through the preponderance of our time here on earth, we have always been perfectly fine, without a threat around us.
4. We don't allow ourselves to feel safe.
Look around you now. I would venture to say that you are safe and protected while you read this.
I’m sure that there are those around us who would argue with this point. Some may feel that they have been in constant danger with threats around every corner thereby justifying their fear.
This is fine. Allow people to have their experience. For you, however, you know better. Deep down you know that everything is okay. Not only okay but pretty darn good.
5. We have a hard time believing things will go our way.
Most of the time, believe it or not, things go our way. If truth be told, things are always going our way even if we don’t have the perspective to fully see and realize it. Everything happening is for our greatest good.
When we make this subtle shift in our perspective, everything around us changes for the better.
6. We let fear manifest into our realities.
Our true nature is that we are creators — and whatever we think and intend manifests into our physical reality.
Many of us fear even this thought. We are so afraid of our thoughts that we fear that what we are thinking might manifest.
What does this tell us? We fear ourselves. We fear our thoughts. Our fear has become a highly contagious pandemic of sorts. Fear’s purpose is to activate our fight or flight response. When we fear our thoughts, we are left to either “fight” those fears or run from them altogether.
We begin wrestling, fighting, and doing battle with our minds — when the entire time we have been the commander of those very thoughts. If we want to end the battle, we must simply take control of our thought processes and change them.
We are not victims — we are commanders.
The Fear That Wasn't
I remember one evening when I was particularly worried about something that might happen, the very thing that I was worried about actually occurred. (I have found this is very rare. Seldom does what we worry about occur). When it did, I realized that even though this thing happened, it was no big deal.
I faced it and realized that I had spent far more energy worrying about the outcome than merited it.
This is when my wife told me, “There it was, the fear wasn’t.” I asked her what she meant, and she said, “This whole time you were worried about something, and when it happened you realized it was never anything to fear to begin with.”
At that moment, I understood that this was the essence of all fears. When we shine the light of consciousness on our fears what we discover is that there was never anything to fear in the first place.
It turns out our imagination is oftentimes more frightening than reality.
As Mark Twain so wisely said, “So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
There can be no greater clarion call from beyond than this. Explore. Dream. Discover. This is our purpose. This is our destiny — our birthright if you will.
If we can become brave enough to understand that our time on earth is limited, we have the chance to throw off the shackles and truly live.
We just have to say goodbye to fear and surrender to our greatest potential.
It is inside each and every one of us; we must only fearlessly activate it. Our souls are depending on us.
David Ahearn is the author of the book "Happy Accidents: The Transformative Power of 'Yes, and' at Work and in Life." He teaches organizations the secrets of 'Yes, And', which helps improve group performance, and is a sought-after speaker and host for corporate functions who lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.