"The first step towards change is acceptance. Once you accept yourself, you open the door to change. That's all you have to do. Change is not something you do. It's something you allow."
–Will Garcia
For some reason this quote makes me think about dealing with fear. My belief is that you can do things to reduce your fears and while it is possible to eliminate fears completely that is unusual. I think more often people find new ways to cope or deal with their fears rather than overcoming them completely.
For me what works when dealing with my fears is that I have to get to a point where I accept them. I acknowledge them.
"Hello, Fear. I see you standing in the shadows of my life."
Then I have to get a little frustrated by my fears. I have to recognize that they are holding me back in their shadows and not allowing me to step out into the sunlight.
"Yo, Fear, you bastard. I'm getting damn tired of standing in your cold, dark shadows."
From there I start to find constructive ways to deal with my fear. It really starts with spending time acknowledging them and fully understanding where they are coming from. Every fear is born from an event and oftentimes other events feed it, allowing it to grow bigger and bigger. I spend a lot of time understanding what those growing points were for my fear.
"Hey Fear, it looks like you got pretty fat off of my craptastic marriage."
Once I get to a place where I feel like I fully understand the origin of my fear I start working to retrain my thoughts on it. I turn around the negative energy it has brought to me and find ways to use that energy to empower me to step out into the light.
"Hey Fear, did you know my bad marriage was an event in my life. Nothing more, nothing less. Just an event. How I feel about it is my choice and I'm choosing to feel empowered by that event."
At the point that I start switching my thoughts from negative to empowering I also begin searching for role models. Who has walked in my shoes, who has succeeded where I have been afraid to go. I start talking to those people and getting inside their heads to understand the paths they took. Oftentimes I discover they had fear too.
"Wow, Fear! You look like you have lost some weight! You look as though you could fly away in a good breeze."
How do you deal with your fear?
–Will Garcia
For some reason this quote makes me think about dealing with fear. My belief is that you can do things to reduce your fears and while it is possible to eliminate fears completely that is unusual. I think more often people find new ways to cope or deal with their fears rather than overcoming them completely.
For me what works when dealing with my fears is that I have to get to a point where I accept them. I acknowledge them.
"Hello, Fear. I see you standing in the shadows of my life."
Then I have to get a little frustrated by my fears. I have to recognize that they are holding me back in their shadows and not allowing me to step out into the sunlight.
"Yo, Fear, you bastard. I'm getting damn tired of standing in your cold, dark shadows."
From there I start to find constructive ways to deal with my fear. It really starts with spending time acknowledging them and fully understanding where they are coming from. Every fear is born from an event and oftentimes other events feed it, allowing it to grow bigger and bigger. I spend a lot of time understanding what those growing points were for my fear.
"Hey Fear, it looks like you got pretty fat off of my craptastic marriage."
Once I get to a place where I feel like I fully understand the origin of my fear I start working to retrain my thoughts on it. I turn around the negative energy it has brought to me and find ways to use that energy to empower me to step out into the light.
"Hey Fear, did you know my bad marriage was an event in my life. Nothing more, nothing less. Just an event. How I feel about it is my choice and I'm choosing to feel empowered by that event."
At the point that I start switching my thoughts from negative to empowering I also begin searching for role models. Who has walked in my shoes, who has succeeded where I have been afraid to go. I start talking to those people and getting inside their heads to understand the paths they took. Oftentimes I discover they had fear too.
"Wow, Fear! You look like you have lost some weight! You look as though you could fly away in a good breeze."
How do you deal with your fear?
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