Introduction to 2020- Embrace Healthy Fear and Failure. “I am so afraid.” What are you afraid of? “Failing makes me scared. I am afraid of not accomplishing what I set out to do in life. Disappointing my family and friends is unbearable. I think about how they perceive me.” But, why? Why do you let others dictate your outcome in life? To a lot of people, fear can be so overwhelming and debilitating that they won’t even attempt to try. Not even showing up at the starting line. Some of us have been this way our whole lives. Some just exist with a mediocre life. Maybe my self-esteem is very low.
“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”
-John D. Rockefeller
Hit the “Pause” button right here, right now! I believe that we need to address the fears we have in life. Verbalize and write down your fears for the purpose of identifying the ones that are the most impactful in your immediate world. For example, the type of fear of taking risks on its own can stop someone that has an amazing gift to give to the world. Being afraid is ok. It’s your body’s way of protecting you. It’s not ok for it to cripple you from facing something in life.
You aren’t alone.
There are millions of people who fear so many things, that they aren’t even able to enjoy daily life. If you are one of those types of people, I hope that you can get inspiration here or somewhere else to propel you to face your challenges slowly and safely. The fears you have now can be holding you back from the happiness you seek in life. Personally I’d like to do skydiving and I am afraid of it. I am afraid of certain heights which is odd, but I would like to overcome it. I have never made the strides to try it. Years ago I wouldn’t think anything of jumping off a 20ft bridge into a river, but now I am not sure. This is one of the fears that I am addressing right now. 2020 is here, so take hold of it.
Get perspective.
Some fears you have in life have the potential I believe to cause a ripple effect in other areas of your life that require risk. Being scared of taking a big risk such as jumping out of a perfectly fine airplane to see the world from overhead, maybe a structured fear within you. That “FEAR” may be taking over your life. You’re afraid of doing public speaking because you feel others will judge you. Get perspective. Isolate the fears and address each of them. It will give you the confidence you need in your life to succeed!
Transitioning from fear to the topic of failure will open your eyes even more. Meaning in some cases failure is a result of fear. You can fail because you fear you will, but if you don’t even try you will never know. Failure is a healthy part of life regardless of what you were taught when you were younger. Look forward to failing at things because when you fail you will learn new things about it. In lots of situations when people fail, they discover something completely new that could be applied in other areas. Go with that new thought and seek out new approaches and challenges.
Failure can take hold, but don’t let it.
The idea of failure sucks, but the result can be pretty amazing if you afford it the opportunity. Growing up I was always interested in many things but sometimes I wouldn’t try things because I didn’t want to fail. When I saw others around me succeed at something for the first time and I didn’t, sometimes it would discourage me and then I’d promptly give up. In many cases, the fear of failing as a result of low self-esteem and self-worth. One must create or recreate their own value.
Confidence is a belief in oneself. Practicing something you like overtime will give you confidence in your abilities and also facing certain fears will help with your confidence. For example, if you have a fear of initiating conversation with others then try starting to face that fear little by little. Each attempt will be considered a success. As long as you are actively working on it. Failure in itself is a process over time and to fail is a result of something immediate like a test. I wouldn’t recommend looking forward to failing things like tests, that would be crazy.
Change your mindset.
The mindset of failing at things has to change. If you are working on something and you’re not getting it the way you want to take a step back and see why it’s not working right. Then with that answer proceed to take a different approach by learning a different way. If your brain is viewing it as failing then it will only further complicate the task at hand. View it with optimism that you will learn a new technique that will be valuable in other areas of your life. It is ok to fail. Do it, learn from it and move on. Don’t sit and dwell on the negative side of it.
failure:
lack of success. (this one I dispute. I believe failure is success, but only if you didn’t learn from that failure.)
Do you have a method that helps you tackle fear and failure? Meaning did you previously have fears that kept you from accomplishing things you wanted in life and did you have a failure you overcame? Looking for the good and healthy approaches that could help others.
*****Please respond to the questions here with us so we can learn and grow. The good and the bad will help others recognize successes and failures in our own lives. Thank you so very much!****
