Feel the Fear

Feel the Fear

            While I was in high-school I encountered a book title that really called out to me. The name was “Feel the Fear and do it any way”. I never read the book but I loved the idea so much that I tried to incorporate it in more aspects of my life.

            Whenever I have to make a choice to start a new project that may be out of my element. I usually come to a tie of whether to do it or not. And that’s when the title come into my consciousness. Feel the Fear and do it any way. This idea has lead breaking the ice and Jumping into projects I might fear doing.

            There are layers to this idea, and one them is acceptance. Accept that you feel the fear. Don’t try to ignore it. That can make the fear worst. Instead understand what triggers the fear. The more you know about what makes you afraid to engage the more you know about yourself. Once you understand your fear you can learn how to challenge it.

            The longer you spend challenging the fear you experience the more you realize that the fear might be misplaced, an overreaction, or not even appropriate in the current situation. Once you have a history of doing it anyway you’ll start to have examples and tools that help you defeat the fear. You’ll start telling yourself. Remember that one time you were afraid to go in to that interview. You did it anyway and it wasn’t painful, it wasn’t embarrassing it was completely fine. Once you start getting examples like these it becomes exponentially easier to not only feel the fear, but to also destroy the fear.

            So take the first step feel the fear. It’s there for a reason. Use it to make life more exciting. But don’t let the fear control you. Don’t let the fear stop you from living the life you want to live. Just feel it, note it, then canon ball into the new experience of your life.