What do you do with your fear?

We all fear something. We fear the war, the economy going down, and the weather. We fear change, the unpredictable, the unknown, and sometimes we even fear the presence of others. We tend to see fear as an enemy because it doesn't allow us to move forward, but fear is more than just something that paralyze us if we allow it. Fear is showing us what we need to overcome to evolve, to be free and happy.

Another question to ask would be, how important it is to defy fear?  I think you would do everything not to suffer, right? Well, when you allow fear to control you, fear has the ability to freeze you to the point that you don't take action to stop those things that make you suffer.

How is that?  

 Here are two different scenarios:

1. You fear speaking in public. You have been invited to a series of interviews at a convention because of your work on climate change that could really help your work become more visible. You suffer because you are terrified with the idea of speaking in front of hundreds of people. You want your work to be seen because you really think you can make a difference in the world, but your fear is controlling you. You are paralyzed and don't know what to do.

2. You fear you will get laid off because the economy is bad. You talk about it with your friends and colleagues every time you have a chance. You allow thoughts in your mind about how bad the economy is and the high possibility of being laid off. You even follow media and listen to podcasts and news about how many people have been laid off in the last months. By talking about it, allowing thoughts to populate your mind, and listening to people talking about the same topic - the bad economy -, you are just feeding the fear. When you less expect it, you have stopped doing fun things because the economy is bad and will get worse. You stop enjoying life because of your fear of being laid off and living in a bad economy.

So, yes, fear can make you suffer. But, do you know what is most incredible? That all of this suffering happens without us noticing. We start acting in certain ways because of the fear and we don't realize it, we normalize it.

Now, let's try to answer the question I presented to you before. How important it is to defy fear?  Defying fear is important because fear makes you suffer, it doesn’t allow you to grow as a person, it keeps you in your comfort zone and, it bothers you like a pebble in your shoe.

Then, what do you do with your fear? If you really want to feel free and happy, defy it! Do that thing that you fear and you will see that it was not as bad as you thought.

How to defy fear.

It is important that you make the time to go over the following steps. Do it as an exercise to improve your overall well-being.

1. Acknowledge your fears. Make a list if necessary.

2. Identify where fear is coming from.

3. In which ways are you feeding your fear?

4. Identify how fear is affecting your life.

5. Identify what you can control.

6. Identify the worst case scenario. And what happens next?

7. Define how you want to live your life.

8. Specify what actions you need to take to defy fear. Do what you are afraid of doing!

After going through the steps, what changed in you? Do you feel more in control? What can you do differently?

Well-being is much more than exercising and eating healthy food. It requires us to analyze our words, thoughts, actions, and how do we feed our heart and soul. Life can be as easy or as difficult as we want it to be. So, are you ready to overcome fear?