LAST time we began talking about the power of fear. We saw that we cannot stop fear from coming but we can control how we respond to it. Our attitude and response to fear is critical. Succumbing to fear will limit us but plunging on in faith will take us to greater heights. Many times, fear is the product of wrong approach to obstacles. A wrong response to fear can be disastrous. Most times, if we do not understand how to handle fear we will either be pressured to do the wrong thing or be paralyzed into inaction.
Fear can be a focus breaker. When we negatively succumb to fear it has the tendency to shift our gaze and focus from what ought to be done to dealing with and worrying about illusions. When we get gripped negatively by fear it robs us of our confidence. Fear can turn a strong man to a timid man.
“If a man harbors any sort of fear, it percolates through all thinking, damages his personality and makes him a landlord to a ghost.” Lloyd Douglas
Fear can make an intelligent person look and do stupid things.
“You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.” Mary Manin Morrissey
We need to understand that most of what we fear never comes to pass. A study shows that – 60% of our fears are unfounded; 20% of our fears are based on what has happened in the past (which is dead and buried); 10% are based on petty things that of very insignificant consequence to our lives and out of the remaining 10% only 4 to 5% are justifiable. This simply means only about 5% of our fears are really worth taking seriously. It is this 5% that we need to really face and deal with.
When people are faced with fear there are usually three ways people respond. For some their response to fear is to simply wish it away. This hardly ever works as fear does not respond to being wished away. Others just ignore the fear and avoid it. This is a straight ticket to living as a fugitive as one has to constantly keep running away from the thing that causes fear. We cannot keep running away from our fears – we have to face and deal with them. To deal with fear it has to be acknowledged and the real issues causing the fear must be identified.
“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” Marie Curie
Once the issues are identified then we must proceed to solve the issues at stake. It’s time to deal with our fears before it deals with us and one antidote for dealing with fear is courage. Courage is the ability to do something that frightens one . . . it is doing something we fear even though we are afraid. “Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.” Brendan Francis
Without courage fear will grip us and make us look as if we are of little or no significance. The radical approach to living a life of significance is to swim upstream, swimming against the tide – we must not succumb to what others fear. If we are going to make any impact with our lives we must not conform to the general approach of the majority. We are alive on a mission, a mission to affect, influence and impact lives. Our lives will never amount to much talk less of making a difference if we are slaves to fear. If our lives will count and if we will make a mark with our lives we must be resolved to do what ought to be done no matter how we feel . . . fear or no fear.
Concluded
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