Every normal and sane human being has dreams. Dreams of having a better and more successful life.
Dreams of having a life that is honourable and meaningful. One that is worthy and fulfilling. Dreams of living a legacy behind.
However, you set out to achieve your dreams, is entirely your choice. It is your responsibility and it can never be transferred or delegated to someone else.
Better still if you live to see your dreams through, is something that can only be driven by you alone.
Achieve your dreams and you will be in the category that everyone wants to be because most people have not lived to see their dreams fulfilled.
Equally, most people will never live to fulfill their dreams, not because they have no capacity but because they have been distracted by fear.
They have allowed the emotion of fear to defeat them. Look, fear is responsible for killing and delaying the attainment of many people’s dreams.
Those that are living their dreams are those that have boldly taken a step and are courageous to act. They have defeated the spirit of fear.
“courage is the currency for success and fear is the currency for failure.” So whatever currency you are trading in, more often than not, determines where you are in your life.
If your major trading currency is “fear” you are probably where the majority of people are and if your major currency is “courage,” You are living your dream. If not you are on the right track.
When you replace fear with courage, your results will definitely be the opposite of what you are experiencing now. You cannot get different results if you keep on doing the same things.
Fear Is A Very Strong Emotion
What is fear? “Fear is an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight).” – Power Thesaurus.
Fear is one of the strongest emotions among the 6 basic human emotions, which include happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust and fear it self.
Because fear is such a strong emotion the human body’s reaction is to flee or rather engage in defensive mode.
Usually, this emotion is triggered when the body feels threatened.
However, fear is also defined as “a primal emotion that is important to survival and triggers a fight or flight response” – uwa.
Stronger emotions are usually very difficult to overcome. They tend to push us to do things that make us feel ‘safe’ or ‘comfortable.’
This means trying by all means not to do the things that we think are going to cause us pain. Naturally, people do not want to be associated with or experience pain.
But do you realise that you can never achieve your dreams without pain? I believe that the more pain you experience the sweeter the rewards. As the saying goes “no pain no gain.”
If you avoid the road that leads you to temporary pain and decide to take the easier route the results will be different. You may enjoy success but I can guarantee you that it will not last a long time.
Many of us are living substandard lives because we chose to take the easier route. The route that offers temporal success.
If only you can reroute your journey to take the road that has a little pain you will reap the rewards at the end of the road. It is never too late to make adjustments to your life.
Fear comes in two forms. There is “positive” and “negative” fear.
Negative Fear
This is fear that affects you in a negative way. Perhaps this is the most dangerous of the two.
It is negative fear that is responsible for failure. When you experience negative fear your mind is just focused on the immediate solution for relief. Believe me most of the time, this is temporal relief.
To make meaningful success with your life you must try by all means to suffer a little for a better future. Don’t be comfortable with the little relief that you may experience time and again.
Take advantage of the temporal relief to build on your future. If you concentrate only on temporal gratification you may end up missing your destiny.
Positive Fear
This is the fear that drives you to success. The bible says “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” this is a positive statement and should be embraced.
Positive fear has a lot of benefits. It makes you stick with your life’s plans. If you have to have fear, choose positive fear.
It Makes You Panic
When you are gripped with fear there is a tendency to panic. It is a known fact that decisions made under fear are not usually the best.
They are usually of a short-term nature and are not always sustainable in the long run. They are meant to get you out of a sticky situation almost immediately.
I believe that the best decisions are made when you have peace of mind. When your mind is settled and un distracted.
Fear temporarily impairs your judgement. If you have to make a good judgement you must always make sure you postpone making important decisions to a later date. Avoid being in a hurry.
Defer them to a time when your mind is clear and focused. This way you will make decisions that will help you immensely.
It does not hurt to take time when making important personal life decisions that will impact your lively hood.
Why should you not take time for a decision that will have more benefits for you? It is only reasonable and prudent that you take your time otherwise you may live to regret it.
Fear Can Affect Your Health
Even though fear prepares us to react to danger it is known to have a negative effect on people’s health. Fear has been known to weaken the immunity system.
It also can interrupt processes in our brains that allow us to regulate emotions, read non-verbal cues and other information presented to us, reflect before acting, and act ethically.
This impacts our thinking and decision-making in negative ways, leaving us susceptible to intense emotions and impulsive reactions. All of these effects can leave us unable to act appropriately.
Once your judgment is impaired you cannot make decisions that are long-lasting. Your primary focus is to get out of the current predicament at all costs.
Conclusion
Do not allow the emotion of fear to be a disruption in your quest to achieve your life’s goals. Always find ways to overcome it and learn to move on.