Fear Fear

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" ~ F. D. Roosevelt

These now infamous words were uttered during Roosevelt's inaugural speech. He was taking leadership during one of the worst economic crisis' during the history of the USA, and his tactic was to sway the people away from panic with these words. After this speech, and implementing several creative ways to move the economy upwards, there was significant improvement.


The fact is that we all have our fears. Fear of the darkness, heights, and spiders are a few of the most common ones.


Sometimes when it comes to our fears we don't actually understand what we're afraid of. You're not afraid of the darkness - you are afraid of what may be lurking within. You are not afraid of heights - you are afraid of falling. You are not afraid... well you may actually be afraid of spiders, they are pretty creepy. But you get my point - mislabeling fears can be dangerous. If we don't take the time to understand the depth of what causes our chests to tighten up, hearts to race, and feet to cease movement, how will we keep going? Fearing fear is such a brilliant concept because of this. Fear is defined as "An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat." We know what fear is. We have all experienced it at one point or another to some degree. We all know that being stagnant is never helpful, being complacent gets you nowhere (seriously...), and you should know that you are worth more than settling for anything less than the best! Remember that your doubts will kill more dreams that your failures ever will. So, to be afraid of that emotion, that ceasing of movement, is helpful rather than hurtful.


However, the reality is that it's not always easy to keep fear at bay - to subdue that feeling and keep walking. But simply stated: the "bad fear" will do nothing but hold you back.


Example: Here's an honesty moment for you; I am mildly mortified of blogging. I do this to get myself out of my comfort zone. My fear: no one will be interested in or encouraged by what I have to say. Or I compare myself to people I know who are incredible at blogging (like Bobby, Jacob, and Jeffrey). Does this fear help me? No. It holds me back from becoming a better writer, and the author I hope to become one day. What should I do? Fear fear, and don't allow myself to be held back. If I never try I will never succeed. Whatever your fears are know that if you never try to overcome them you will never succeed.


My encouragement today to you is simply to learn how to fear fear. Whether you want to call fear complacency, settling, or stagnancy... fear fear, sway the panic, and keep moving forward.



~Amanda Rose