Life Advice On The Line

Facing Your Fears

Facing Your Fears

• fear - an intense scared emotion you feel deep side

Often times when we hear the word "fear", we tend to associate it with negative connotations. Which it's pretty obvious that the word itself does not sound very pleasant like the emotions that come from it. Society tends to demonize this word/emotion and question anyone why one would feel afraid. That there is no need to feel afraid when you can just "suck it up" and "deal with it." As if feeling afraid is an abnormal human emotion. As if the world doesn't allow anyone to feel an ounce of fear and if they do, they get teased about it. Making us feel scared to even feel scared. As if those scared feelings aren't our own feelings. They don't belong to us. They belong to the world to judge. They are in our body and need to be rid of. We're often told that our fears are make-believe. Although fear runs from a mental space making us more prone to sometimes over-exaggerate scenarios, it doesn't make our fears any less real. Society has you convinced that it's just so easy to get over your fears as long as you stop thinking about it. Running the opposite direction doesn't always work. At least not for everyone. Some can do a 180 and that's great but realistically, you can't run away from your feelings forever. You can't just push those feelings aside hoping it'll disappear because more than likely, it'll come back swinging twice as hard or sometimes 10x harder. And then you're left to deal with more than you did at the start. Feeling heavier with the weight of your fear. It's okay. You can sigh right now. You're gonna need it. I will breakdown a 3-step process that may help you dig a little deeper and be at peace with your fear. That doesn't necessarily mean you'll feel "pleasant" about it, but it will build your confidence to get through your fear--in positive connotations.

Here are the 3-"A's"-Step Process to Facing Your Fears:

1. Admit

When you recognize your fear and discover where it stems from, you have no choice but to admit that it exists. No matter what your fear is, you alone know it in yourself the reason why it exists.

2. Accept

When you have come to terms with your fear, you accept it for what it is. There is no changing it or feeling ashamed. All you can do is understand the truth of your fear.

3. Appreciate

When you have absorbed and observed your all your angles and reasons why you fear what you fear, it's time to appreciate the lessons that your fears taught you. There is no room for blaming yourself and/or over-analyzing your fears.  You experienced your fear and you're the only one who has lived it so only you know how it feels. Only you can tell your story (if you choose to do so). The point is, fear is not meant to feel pretty. It's an ugly feeling inside. And we all feel it. But it's up to us to take it as we go and learn something from it, even if it scares us. Being scared just means we care and when we care, we are scared to mess up. And when we mess up, we care about how it affects others around us but we also shouldn't forget about ourselves. We must first take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health!

OKAY!! I hope you guys liked this new advice topic. It's getting late and I'm getting very sleepy as my eyes are closing so I hope I got most of what I wanted to write on here and that it made sense. Thank you for reading! This topic means so much to me.

"The best way out is always through." - Robert Frost