A Facebook friend of mine posted this image the other day and it inspired me to write about this topic today. The message is so powerful. Of course there are only two ways to approach fear. You either run from it or face it. Which one do you usually associate yourself with? Now think about how each approach to fear makes you feel afterwards.
It's interesting to me that one approach is associated with negative feelings and the other one is associated with positive feelings. Usually, when we are faced with a situation or opportunity that scares us, we become anxious, nervous and stuck in our comfort zone. We don't want to take a risk without knowing the outcome of it and that "unknown" result is really the cause of the fear. I'm sure we can all think of a time when we turned down an opportunity or activity because we were too scared to give it a try. When I think back to the times in my life when I did this, most of the feelings associated with those moments are disappointment and sadness for not giving that thing a try. However, when I think back to the moments when I did take chances and did something to step out of my comfort zone, I have the best feelings of accomplishment and pride that I overcame what I was afraid to do. Some of my best and happiest memories are because I did something I was afraid to do.
There are those times of course when we do take a risk and the result ends badly or not as we expected. My response to that is that those failures shouldn't be an excuse to stop trying or taking risks at all. At least you did something you were afraid of and hopefully learned from your experience. What you gain from facing fear is so much greater than whether the end result was good or bad. It makes you stronger and helps you grow for the future. The way I see it, there are only two possible outcomes to facing fear: gaining knowledge or gaining happiness. Either way, there is nothing negative about it.
As you go on your way through life, decide whether you want to stay stuck in a boring world where you never do anything out of the ordinary, or would you rather face your fears and take risks to see where the path may lead you? To me, facing fear is so much more exciting and I would rather die living my life to the fullest than playing it safe and never doing anything outside of my tiny little world of Marlton, NJ. Live your life. Travel. Go on adventures. Move around and try new things. If there's a wanting in your heart for something more than what you have now, listen to it and follow what you desire. It will be well worth it in the end.
Live fearlessly and regret nothing because life is too short to worry about failure.
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