Category: Overcoming Fear

Trust is an investment into your future that becomes an asset with what you do.

When you trust, you open. You soften. You believe.

This kind of energy leads to initiative, action, opportunity.

This leads to a future filled with improved, more, better—in whatever way(s) that means to you.

Fear is a withdrawal from your future that becomes a liability because of what you take.

When you fear, you close. You harden. You doubt.

This kind of energy leads to procrastination, inaction, hiding.

This leads to a future filled with regression, less, worse—in whatever way(s) that means to you.

What you don’t gain from trust, you lose from fear.

Embody this. Envision this when you’re in the midst. It’s your future that hangs in the balance.

This past weekend, the martial arts association I’m a part of hosted a tournament for 500+ local and out of state competitors.

…And I don’t think a single one of them wasn’t nervous about competing.

From the outside looking in, as a spectator, it might seem as though many of the people who stepped into the ring were, in fact, without nerves… but, I can assure you, it’s almost never the case.

What happens is the competitors feel the nerves… and then get into the ring anyway.

Which is precisely what courage is: feeling fear and doing the thing anyway.

And it’s so important to remember this—especially when we’re confronted with a fear-inducing opportunity in our lives. Because while choosing to be a spectator will dissipate the fear… it also dissipates the courage you stand to build.

See what happens when you choose to step into the fear is you challenge and flex your courage muscle which, by and by, increases your fear tolerance and ability to manage your physiological response.

…Something that’s undoubtedly correlated to what’s required for you—us—to live and lead your—our—best lives.

One of the less acknowledged benefits of being bold and doing things that are scary to you… is that it can forever change your perception of what “scary” is.

As a martial artist, you don’t often remember the “comfort zone” fights, when you’ve sparred or worked against people who were easy for you to compete against. But, you definitely remember the biggest, baddest, toughest opponents you ever had to face down.

As a recreational basketball player, I can’t tell you much about the recreational games I play week to week with the other recreational ball players. But, I can definitely tell you about the competitive games I’ve been playing against dudes who hoop at a seemingly D1 level.

As an occasional long distance runner, I can tell you that 8k used to feel like a lot. That is, until I ran a half marathon. Which felt long until I ran a marathon. Which still feels really damn long… but, definitely more doable after I did a 50k.

See, “scary” is defined in relation to your other worldly experiences that you’ve found to be scary.

But, when you lean into the scary, do something relatively bold, or just take a leap way outside of your comfort zone altogether… sure, some of the consequences might be to panic, get rejected, or to fall…

But, another key consequence—that shouldn’t be ignored—is that your definition of what’s “scary” might be forever rewritten.

Our world shrinks and grows in proportion to our courage.

How is courage built?

By feeling fear and acting anyway—relative to what’s just slightly outside of our comfort zone.

Try to go too far and we’ll fight, flight, or freeze. Not going far enough has no impact. It’s the mindful flex forward on the “just right” amount of fear that allows us to grow our worlds.

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P.s. 35 Osho Quotes on Courage and Why Life Is Better Lived Dangerously

Doubt comes with the territory of doing something new.

Don’t ignore the doubt.

Don’t vilify the doubt.

Don’t run from the doubt.

Welcome it. Lean into it. Inspect it.

What you might find is that doubt is actually a signal that you’re heading in the right direction.