Fear & Worry

How fear affects us.

Fear itself is actually a natural and constructive survival mechanism.  In other words, due to an in built alarm system, it can help keep us safe from a physical and psychological perspective.

Specifically, it is the hormone adrenaline that races causing the mind and body to react.

However, it is only occasionally do we experience fear, validated by the experience of fear.  A lot of the time we act on our conditioned perception of a situation, rather than the actual situation.

Fear and worry needn’t dominate us.

Some people have been conditioned to associate fear with cowardice, a lack of bravery.  It was once said that cowardice got the better of her and she crept out of the room.

Of course it is not true to state that someone is not afraid, nor natural to feel afraid, however we should not let fear dominate us.

Besides, we are all capable of learning to control our fears.

Nelson Mandela said; “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.”

Conditioned response and fear.

On the whole, where there is no threat and we are acting on a conditioned response, fear can have a negative impact on us and our lives.  Manifesting into anxiety, distrust, panic, and preventing you from exploring unknown opportunities and growing in your life.

Once in this cycle, it becomes harder to navigate out of it.

Worry.

What is it you stand for, what is it that keeps you on a positive path?  Some people do not know.

Similarly, they have no idea what it is they want to do, and they worry about life, which is one of the most common fears.  Consequently spending their days watching the news and living in fear about what they hear.

For me, what keeps me on a positive path is helping others, seeing them succeed in their life and helping remove barriers for them to enable this to happen if they need it.

Fear and Worry steal time.

I remember reading “Worry is the interest on a payment not due yet.”  At the time it made me stop and think about how big a part our emotions play in our lives, and how much time and energy is wasted on these.

In the same way, too many people worry about the future and what is going to happen, or they hold on to guilt about the past.

Spare time is spent worrying about what should or shouldn’t have been done and what could have been done instead, or what will need to be done about things that have not even happened yet.

Therefore, they are not making the most of the time they have to live their life to their full potential, and anything they want to do they put off.

Yes, I really do encounter people like this regularly.

The next time this happens to you, and you find yourself worrying, ask yourself “what am I putting off in this moment to worry?” 

Furthermore, I challenge you to write down your list of worries from six months ago.  Looking at that list ask yourself was the time you spent worrying about those things productive, or was the outcome a blessing in disguise?