Fear Can be a Useful Enemy

Let your fears serve as a springboard from which to launch out on a new adventure or re-launch an old attempt.

Fear enhances our strengths

It may sound like a cliché, but it is true; trials build character and make us strong. The problem is that instead of acting on our strengths we surrender to our fears and allow them to control and dictate our lives.

You probably think that your life or one aspect of your life, like your education, your career or relationship has been ruined by some past experience. And you live in fear that a similar situation waits around the corner. So you remain cloistered in your self-imposed cocooned, never venturing beyond the boundaries of your comfort zone.

Have you ever stopped to consider that you have survived and may even triumphed over the experiences that brought you to this point? What strengths did you discover dormant within you? What character traits were you forced to develop in order to deal with the situation, maintain your sanity, and carry on with your life?

Fear elevates our potential

Being fearful doesn’t mean that we don’t think about goals we’d like to accomplish or dreams we’d love to pursue and achieve. Ideas, goals and dreams run parallel to our fears. On one hand, we lament the fact that we are afraid to take a chance, step out of our safe places and take risks, even small ones. Then on the other hand, deep in our hearts there is the longing for the mildest courage to step out from behind our fears and forge forward with confidence.

Dare to look beyond fear’s deceptive whisper, “You can’t.” What do you want – education, mortgage, job, travel, marriage and family? The longer you sit with your fears, the more impossible your dreams seem, but that doesn’t alter your potential to achieve them.
So when fear says, “No, you can’t,” look beyond its limiting borders and declare that you will try; you will give it your best shot.

Fear equips us with tools to move forward

Every task or project requires tools for it to be accomplished efficiently and successfully. These are just three of the tools that fear provides.

1. Insight to understand problems from the inside out as opposed to dealing with semantics, feelings or personalities.
2. Perspective to see the whole picture and not just the individual aspects of difficult situations.
3. A voice to defend ourselves and our dreams when confronted by human or situational obstacles.

Don’t underestimate fear. It is a formidable enemy able to defeat our best intentions and thwart our most inspired and determined efforts. But when you launch an expedition to excavate its usefulness, you can walk away with life-altering tools, aware of your weaknesses, confident in your strengths and excited to explore your potential.
What useful purpose do your fears serve