Leadership Thought #316 – Manage Your Fears
We must learn to better manage our fears. However, you cannot blame people for being afraid. Almost every commercial and news program exploits these fears daily. When you scare people by tapping into their fears, it is easy to manipulate them. I just heard a radio commercial where the financial advisor warned of an economic Armageddon in the next 12 months. What nonsense. I changed the channel in disgust.
There was a time in human history when being afraid daily was understandable. Our survival depended upon it. As a result, our brains are hardwired to be responsive to perceived threats. However, it has been thousands of years since our daily lives were threatened in this manner, and most of the fears we confront these days are self-imposed and non-lethal.
The first step in any recovery process is self-awareness. Is the amount of fear or anger (which is typically the other side of fear) you are dealing with regularly manageable or not? Is it adversely affecting your life in any way? If so, how? Try to imagine what your life would be like without these fears. Next, try to identify what is triggering these fears. Are there certain stimuli, such as specific social situations, individual personality types, or media programming, that activate these fears? Is it possible to avoid these situations or at least put them in proper context? If not, how can you grow and gain the skills necessary to adapt when these things happen? Finally, ask yourself how reasonable and realistic these fears are given the current situation. Are your concerns proportionate to the actual expected outcome? What is the likelihood (most often exceedingly small, if at all) of a worst-case scenario, and what would you do should this happen?
Don’t let fear rule your life. Don’t let others use fear as a tool to manipulate you. I realize the journey may not be easy for some of you and could involve some major therapeutic work on your part, but it will be worth it. Most of your fears won’t happen; if they do, the results will be less severe than you think. Live your life courageously and don’t avoid taking risks. There is some truth to the statement, “What doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger.” In life, bravery and a commitment to personal growth and development are always rewarded.
Related articles
- Fear – The Reason Why Most Of You Won’t Start A Company (soentrepreneurial.com)
- What Are We Afraid Of? (mukulsaxena.wordpress.com)
- To fear or not to fear (transetrance.wordpress.com)
- The Role of Fear (badbadgoodbad.wordpress.com)
