Conquering Fear: The end of ‘Good Enough’

We all have fears. Our lives are dictated by them. The fears that we express such as spiders and small spaces are easy to pin point. We let them out and, although they control us, we understand that and work around them. If we are unable to fly because of our fear of flying, we schedule trips that involve cars, trains and boats instead. We learn to tolerate this, as do those around us, and it becomes a part of our life.

The worst cause of fear is that people settle. They decide that what they have is ‘good enough’ because they do not want to put themselves through the pain of taking action. They choose fat over fit because of how hard it would be to get some exercise and to eat well. They stay in jobs they don’t like because of the fear that there is nothing else out there. They stay in relationships that they know aren’t right, just because fear of losing someone close doesn’t seem worth it.

The path to being honest with yourself is a dangerous one. To be truly honest with yourself, and do something about it, takes a tremendous amount of strength. You have to stand up, look at what you want, look at what you’re afraid of and face it head on.

Power (n.)

  The ability or capacity to perform or act effectively.

The fear of the unknown and the fear of pain can NOT dictate your life. You have to get past it. You have to ask yourself honest questions and deal with the answers. How many of you know people who are unhappy in their jobs, yet do nothing about it. Would you say that only their job is affected by this? NO! Everything is affected by not being true to yourself.

If you are unable to take action on something in your life, it has effects on everything. If you KNOW what is right but refuse to do it, you can not be truly happy. Not taking action makes us less powerful. Being less powerful affects our self esteem. Having lowered self esteem affects the way we interact with people. Everything you do is connected to your ability to be honest with yourself. It is a very fragile system, but it is there for a reason.

The long term pain of not being honest with yourself will have a devastating effect on your life. One thing leads to another. You settle for a job you don’t like. Because of that job’s salary, you tolerate living in an area that you’re not happy with. You meet a woman who is “good enough” and get married. Your life seems to be trucking along just fine. That’s when it hits. The inner nagging that has been with you all along. The painful feeling in your gut that you have learned to live with starts acting up. You take a good look at your life, and realize that it’s not what you wanted. What do you do now? You’ve got a family, friends, a lifestyle that you’re deeply intrenched in - and getting out of it is going to be incredibly painful.

Take action now, before it is too hard not to. The pain you feel for a week, month or year is worth every minute compared to the pain that eats away at you when everything is “good enough.”