Unexamined fear

The other day I saw a huge spider sitting on a sock in my house. Spiders don't scare me as much as they do others, though I will escort them out when discovered. I put the sock outside the sliding glass door, and went about the rest of the day.

Enter Stella, you may remember when I wrote about her escape from a bag of blueberries. Well, for whatever reason, she was completely, utterly, freaked out by this sock. She got low to the ground, crept slowly toward the door, her fur raised, growling. I did what anyone else would do - tried to reason with my cat. "Stell, it's a sock, a sock. It's safe. The sock can't hurt you." She was not having one bit of it. For the next two days, she was needy and jumpy even after I removed the sock. She'd hesitantly peek through the door, checking to see if it had magically reappeared to haunt her.

Don't we act like that with our own fear sometimes?

What we're scared of may make no sense intellectually, yet it's still there and very real for us. We make up stories about what would happen if the fear was realized. More time and energy goes into fearing the fear than it would to examine and create a new story around it. 

Next time a fear comes up that makes your heart beat faster, your breath shorten, and your mind spin - take a new route. Ask yourself these questions:

What am I really scared of here?

What can I do or tell myself so I feel more safe and secure around this subject?

What are a few positive possible outcomes from this situation, including what I could learn?

Sometimes, it just takes a little acknowledgment to move through the resistance of unexamined fear.

Comments

[Jagan Nemani]

Great Article Vanessa...

Fear is your Worst Enemy... It is the difference between Mediocrity and Greatness.

Keith Ferrazi suggests a three step process to overcome fear:

1) Acknowledge Fear: It is perfectly normal emotion and most of us have it (but for my 1.5 yrs old son)

2) Recognize that overcoming fear is essential to your success and improving the quality of your life.

3) Commit to getting better, by observing others, practicing, and simply by putting yourself in the situations you fear.

Collaborate with your worst enemy (i.e. fear) and you would know no bounds to success.

[Vanessa Smith, Wellness Coach & Intuitive]

Great comment Jagan! I love how you broke down those steps too. I'm telling you, you need a platform to spread your own inspiration! Nice meeting you at the Radical Collaboration event.