“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”
– Les Brown
You always hear these kinds of quotes or advice coming from people close to us or even mentors. But do you really know what living in fear is? And how can you say that this person is living in fear? Right now, let’s take a walk on the insides of living in fear to help us understand people who are living through it and, of course, to know if you are one of these people.
What Is Living in Fear?
Living in fear is living with an assumption about the future that may never come to pass. Always worrying that bad things are going to happen to you, and situations play out in your head, always ending in bad outcomes before they even happen. Constantly being scared that something will go wrong and stressing yourself out over things that you can’t even control.
Why are you living in fear?
Because you’re afraid of feeling uncomfortable, and because of this, you have already become uncomfortable.
You live in fear because you don’t want to take any action due to that scary feeling of taking a risk. In this world, every action and every risk has a chance of resulting in failure, and the consequences of failure usually affect the comfortability of living in this world, such as having a job, having a family, financial security, etc. You deal with the potential consequences of failure, missteps, frustrations, or loss that are lurking behind every action you take.
You tend to live in fear because you know that before you get a life that is full of peace, passion, pleasure, and purpose, you have to first face the risks of discomfort.
Importance of Acknowledging Fear
Acknowledging fear is, in and of itself, scary, but it is important to be able to avoid living only in fear. When you acknowledge your fear, you’ll be able to work with it and give yourself an opportunity to not run from it, which most of the time causes stress for us. You’ll also learn more about yourself, what your other fears are, and how you respond to them. As you do this, you’ll embark upon a profound journey toward the authentic you that is full of peace, passion, pleasure, and purpose, and this will be the greatest gift that you can give to yourself and the people close to you.
You can start out by taking our Fear Response Quiz to help you identify how you respond to fears and be able to check if you’ve been doing the right and healthy fear response for you.
How to Transform Your Life from Fear-Filled to Fear-Proof?
The first step to this is already acknowledging your fear. Doing this could already bring you peace, passion, pleasure, and purpose. But here are some other tips on how to live a fear-filled life to fear-proof life.
- Validate your own feelings of fear.
- Remember that it is okay to be afraid from time to time.
- Determine the source of the majority of your fears.
- Think of only the facts in the situation you’re fearful of.
- Tell a trusted friend so someone can calm you down in situations where you can’t calm yourself anymore.
- Get help. If you really can’t get away from living a fear-filled life, you can always ask for help from a mental health professional, like us.
In the end, to get out of a life that is full of fear. What you have to do is take an act of courage. Because of courage, you’ll get to live a life that is fear-proof because of the peace, passion, pleasure, and purpose you’ll have in it.
Shirley Therapeutic and Consulting Services, LLC is a diverse therapy clinic that can meet the needs of anyone. If you’d like to talk about your mental health, feel free to message us here.
References:
Andrews, W., & Andrews, W. (2020, September 16). Courage: Choosing to acknowledge fear ” design.org. Design.org. Retrieved February 8, 2022, from https://design.org/courage-choosing-to-acknowledge-fear/
Glazer, byA., Glazer, A., Alexa Glazer, Alexa is a purpose + empowerment coach, Milliner, byA. E., Milliner, A. E., Lee, byJ., Lee, J., Taylor, byS., Taylor, S., Coleman, byB., Coleman, B., Hoiem, byA., Hoiem, A., Cummins, byA., Cummins, A., Miller, byS., Miller, S., Scott, byJ., Scott, J., … Name. (2020, December 22). Why acknowledging and processing fear is important. archive. Retrieved February 8, 2022, from https://blog.darlingmagazine.org/why-you-should-acknowledge-and-process-fear-by-alexa-glazer/
Seale, A. (2019, February 11). Acknowledging your fear and finding your way forward –. The Center for Transformational Presence. Retrieved February 8, 2022, from https://transformationalpresence.org/alan-seale-blog/acknowledging-your-fear-and-finding-your-way-forward/#:~:text=When%20you%20acknowledge%20your%20fear,those%20whose%20lives%20you%20touch.
