Fear is instilled in us in many ways throughout our lives.
At an early age we are taught to be afraid of strangers on the playground. Later in life we are told by our family, friends and loved ones to watch over our backs when we walk outside late at night- after all you might get mugged or shot.
As young adults we are taught to be fearful of contracting AIDS. And as we age, we become fearful of being diagnosed with cancer or suffering from heart failure.
As adults, with real world responsibilities, we are taught to do “whatever it takes” to keep our jobs. After all how will we feed ourselves if we lose our job, or worse, choose to leave it? The number of people each year who work in jobs they are too afraid to leave is simply staggering.
We are also taught in life to be afraid of immigrants- it use to be Russians but now its Moslems.
We are taught to be afraid of terrorism, afraid of chaos, afraid of failure, afraid of not being loved, and afraid of going to hell.
So many things we have been taught to fear! How possible is it to do the impossible when we are consumed with nothing but fear?
Lately, I have feel like a broken record. I have had not one, two, three or four, but seemingly dozens of conversations with artists who are nurturing their fledgling ideas and the closer they come into being real, the greater their great wall of fear becomes.
Let’s face it- in the end- fear is a great reason to do nothing. After all there is ALWAYS a GOOD reason to do nothing. Honestly. If you list the reasons you just simply can’t make a move forward, likely I, and all of your friends, will nod our heads in agreement and say yes, yes, yes to everything on your list. Because in the end, there isn’t ANYTHING in life we cannot make into something to fear.
Get the idea? We are good students of life and have been indeed taught well how to create fear effortlessly.
So, maybe the trick is to take your fear and have it walk next to you AS you move forward with your creative ideas. Begin your venture anyway. Bring your pal fear right along with you.
But instead of lugging it around, like a ball and chain tied to your throat, or looking for it to leap at you like the boogie man in the night waiting to get you, use it as the watchdog, the gate keeper, the detective, that will allow you to investigate your concerns to their fullest and help you feel more assured that ANYTHING in life is possible.
