I wanted to fill you in on something about fear, because managing fear has a lot to do with setting boundaries and staying true to yourself: Most day-to-day fear is not useful.
It only pretends to be useful.
Most often, this fear is not there to save our lives or protect us from imminent danger. Which is what its original purpose was. When it comes to setting boundaries, we feel fear around people not liking us anymore. Or being alone. Or disappointing someone. Or looking like a bitch. Or people talking sh*t about us.
But it’s just the perception of fear that we are experiencing, and it needs a gentle reminder to move along. We can allow fear to stop us in our tracks, or we can remind ourselves, “Oh, yeah, this isn’t going to physically hurt me. I’m not going to die. No one’s going to die here.”
In many ways, fear serves us. It keeps us from doing things that could legitimately hurt us. It can help us make better decisions when it comes to our safety. However, the thing to realize is that our brains are super-programmed for fear and for survival, but we’ve evolved, and nowadays, a lot of our fear is irrational and even unnecessary.
Simply recognizing that fear and irrational fear are going to be a part of our lives will help immensely with moving forward. Don’t obsess about “getting rid” of it. Focus on embracing it and having it be a part of our evolutionary brain.
Also, fear does not mean stop. You don’t have to be fearless to take action. Really consider this. Taking action while acknowledging fear can be one of the most powerful things that we do. Most of the fear that we have comes from a thought in our minds, a thought that is irrational.
Let that sink in! We let this thought have sooooo much power over us. We let being afraid of feeling an emotion keep us from setting boundaries and taking care of ourselves. Irrational fear that stops us in our tracks is often the result of a mismanaged mind.
We can overcome fear by deciding not to believe the thoughts causing it. Instead, we can understand it, find its cause, find the thought patterns that are causing it, and then change them. If the fear is deep-seated and hard to change, I want you to take action anyway.
When you take action, all of those fears get proven wrong. You’ll be fine.
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If you want to join a tribe of people that will help you navigate this wild and precious life, come check out Freedom School – for rebels like you. It’s not just personal growth for rebels. It’s Jedi training for the new world.