Fear
And The Roll it Plays
What is FEAR?
Does FEAR play a roll in our lives?
Why are we Fearful?
I hate being afraid.
Fear brings on physical changes in us.
It can manifest itself as:
nausea
shakiness
pale skin
flushed skin
feeling faint
heart palpitations
sweating
cold and clammy
biting fingernails
chewing on lips
hair pulling or twisting
stuttering
crying
and I'm sure there are many other physical cues we have when we are afraid.
Sometimes we are afraid of the unknown,
and sometimes we are afraid because of past experiences.
I am terrified of dogs.
I've been mauled twice and when I see a dog,
my heart starts to race,
it's hard to breath,
I shake
and I've been told I get real pale.
I had a German shepherd rip me off my bike when I was about 13, tore my pants, bent my wheel and flattened both my tires. I don't remember how I got away, but bike riding was never the same again.
I always love it when people say something stupid like
"well just don't be afraid".
My first thought always is, "well as soon as I find that fear button I'll be sure to turn it off".
Where is the fear button and how can we turn it off?
I don't know!
I have a brave little granddaughter,
(ok, she's not little anymore)
Who was afraid of everything as a wee little one.
She was afraid of noise, bugs, people, animals, even the wind.
Then at age 4 she decided
"she was too old to be afraid of everything".
She found her fear button and turned it off.
Not for everything, but for the completely illogical fears she had, she was able to figure out how to turn it off.
I think there is such a thing as "healthy fear".
Otherwise, every little boy would be broken all the time from big wheel and bicycle dare devil tricks, and they would never make it past 17 after they got a drivers license.
Fear is good, just as in all things, in moderation.
But what about those fears that keep us from doing great things and becoming the people we really can become?
Mastering our fear can be a lifetime pursuit.
I'm sure you've heard coaches interviews where they talk about a player who has lost his confidence.
He shoots 10 3's or free throws and misses them all.
It starts to play in his head.
What if I miss again?
I don't want to miss on national TV!
I don't want to run laps if I miss!
My team needs me not to miss!
There are scouts here and I can't miss!
What happens?
More misses!
We enter an art competition or request to enter a gallery
and we are rejected.
What happens to our confidence?
We try for a promotion at work and are told no.
Confidence goes out the window.
Fear rushes in!
So should we not reach for those goals,
on the slight chance we might not make it
and then we'll be disappointed.
Absolutely NOT!
We should try for all sorts of goals,
recognizing from the outset, we won't make them all.
We might be picked last.
We might not be picked at all.
It's hard to keep our confidence up when we feel fear or rejection, but it is part of our purpose of life.
To become our very best selves,
not our mediocre selves who didn't give it a go.
On the other side of fear is courage and victory.
But we will have to get through the fear to reach
the exhilaration of success!
This painting was the first real figure painting I've ever done.
I started painting figures during a 30 paintings in 30 days
challenge hosted by artist Leslie Saeta.
The point of the challenge is to get in your studio and paint every day for 30 days AND to blog about it.
So here I was trying to learn to paint a new genre' I'd never painted before and to tell the world about it.
Believe me, FEAR crept in.
I have a friend, fellow artist Meredith Adler, who writes a blog titled, "Paint Like Nobody's Watching".
Click HERE to see her blog.
I love the title of her blog, because when you first start to do something of a creative nature and put it out there for the public to view, it can be terrifying.
But you just have to Paint Like Nobody's Watching.
Like nobody cares.
Like you don't care what anyone thinks!
I've gathered up a collection of quotes about conquering fear I'd like to share with you.
·
The
only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
FDR
·
Inaction breeds doubt and fear.
Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit
home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
Dale Carnegie
·
Nothing
in life is to be feared, it
is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear
less. Marie Curie.
·
I learned that courage was not the
absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not
feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
Nelson Mandela
·
"Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it." - Salvador Dali
·
"Fear defeats more people than any other
one thing in the world." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
·
Courage
is knowing what not to fear. - Plato –
·
Courage
is resistance to fear, mastery
of fear, not
absence of fear. - Mark Twain
·
'Expose
yourself to your deepest fear; after
that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.'
Jim Morrison
·
“The
cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek.” –Joseph Campbell.
· 'The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be
continually fearing you will make one. Elbert Hubbard
· 'The oldest and strongest emotion of
mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the
unknown' H.P. Lovecraft
·
“I
have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes
fear;
knowing what
must be done does away with fear.” -- Rosa Parks
· “He who fears being conquered is sure of
defeat.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
Now get out there and go for your dreams,
learn to paint,
learn to quilt,
learn to sing,
learn to dance,
sign up for a class,
go for a promotion,
start that business,
Push FEAR out of your heart, your head and your life.
Have a great week and thanks for stopping by today.
