Photo by Intangible (Creative Commons)
Today’s guest post is from Adeline Gonzales. Adeline is an accountant and writer in love with Jesus. She loves to read everything she can get her hands on and is a sucker for a good story. You can view her blog at www.abidingingrace.com
Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile… initially scared me to death. ~Betty Bender
All of us suffer from the paralysis of fear at one time or another. It can keep us quiet when the world is dying to hear from us. It keeps us in life-draining relationships and dead-end jobs.
Fear is the cause of gifts wasted, talents denied and potential unreached.
For those of you who have a perpetual love affair with fear; it’s time to end this abusive relationship. Allowing fear to rule your life will assuredly guarantee a life that is normal, boring, and anything but impactful.
Believe me, I know. I’ve let fear keep me huddled in a quiet, lonely corner for most of my life.
Don’t get me wrong; a certain amount of fear is healthy. It keeps you from jumping out of planes without parachutes and recklessly breaking the law. But let fear have its proper place which is not in front of your purpose.
Do you have a love affair with fear? Let’s see…
If you’re a perfectionist who loves comfort, fear might have an on-again off-again relationship with you.
If you are driven by your emotions to the point of not trying, fear is your mistress or part-time lover.
It’s time we kick fear to the curb once and for all!
This is how I do it:
Love what fear hates and hate what fear loves.
-Fear loves the instability of your emotions. So you must stop trusting them. The outcome of facing what you dread the most is not half as bad as your imagining it to be. We are great at thinking up the worse possible scenarios and playing them over and over again in our heads until fear has us locked in the prison of our minds and refuses to let us act.
-Fear hates faith. It wants you to look at your circumstances, get discouraged and never try. Faith allows you to believe Gods yes when everything around you says no. Stubbornly persist in faith and watch your fears slowly die.
-Fear loves comfort. A life of impact is one lived consistently abandoning comfort and embracing risk. True freedom from fear exists outside of your comfort zone.
-Fear hates failure. You must actually embrace failure and be determined to fail forward. Failure is nothing more than lessons on the road to success. Failure allows us to get dirty and learn what works and what doesn’t. The key is to learn from our past failures and not repeat them.
As you step up to face your fears, everything in you will want to retreat and run the other way. The extreme resistance, rush of adrenaline and overcast of doubt you will feel are all par for the course.
Go ahead and kick fear to the curb. The world is waiting for you to make an impact!
What other things does fear hate or love?
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