Declaring Independence from Fear!

Fear has long served many to control people and the masses. But fear is more common in our daily activities than those few power driven individuals who often times successfully utilize it to stir the people their way. Fear paralyzes us and keeps us from living a full life. Fear usually settles in when we suffer from anxieties, panic and irrational thinking; when thoughts of terrible things happening exceed the thoughts of living a happy trouble free life.

Often individuals live alone with their fears, not readily expressing them to their friends and families, but this isolation can further increase our fears and cause us to spiral downwards perpetuating deeper fears. The best thing to do, from my own personal experience, is to not avoid them. Acknowledge your fears and identify the irrational thoughts that cause feelings of fear. In other words, face them!

I noticed fear emerging in the pit of my stomach when I am faced with actions I must take of which I am uncertain, or situations I am not sure of the outcome, sometimes because I feel I'm not good enough to do a certain task, what if they laugh at me! All these feelings commonly share one thing, the unknown. Not knowing is not having control, and not having control leaves some of us paralyzed with fear. I am reminded of the old saying "there's nothing to fear but fear itself" - so true. Fear imprisons us, keeps us captive and holds us back from our full potential in life. When we finally face our fears, acknowledge them and identify their source, we can finally start rationalizing and making changes toward living without them. We can leap or take small steps, it doesn't matter, as long as we declare our independence from them and separate ourselves from the grip of all irrational thinking.

Nothing is certain in life, but what I do know for sure is that when ever I jump in the water, even if I don't know whether it's cold, hot, deep or shallow, or even if I'm a good enough swimmer; I end up swimming across the pool and come out refreshed and proud to have done the lap. I might feel the same anxiety next time I am about to dive in (whatever I'm diving in), but it will be a little less, and less, until all my anxieties and fears miraculously disappear.

So as we approach July 4th, let's declare our independence from this great enemy which is fear and begin to live a more empowered, authentic and free life!