Facing Fear and Uncertainty: This is How We Grow

We all have fears. I have fears. I have also realized that if we want to use our fear to grow we must have the courage to feel it. It is just a feeling.

For some reason, many of us are lead to believe that fear is a bad thing. But really, it isn't. Fear is what makes us feel alive. We are meant to grow and become all that we are. But the only way to do this is by changing our ideas about fear, feeling it and using it as a powerful tool to move forward without becoming paralyzed by it.

Our greatest power lies in feeling fear and using it as a tool to grow. We become stronger when we face fear and take the leaps of faith. If we cannot become comfortable with discomfort, fear and the unknown, we simply cannot become our most powerful selves. We cannot grow.

We fear the unknown because we don't know what is going to happen. We fear love because we are exposing our heart. We fear that if we expose our deepest emotions and become vulnerable we will be hurt. We got hurt in the past so we want to avoid pain. But in doing this, we are also limiting how much we will experience in our life.

We fear failure. What if I put my effort and heart into something and it fails? What if we expect something and we don't get what we are looking for? But what if we succeed? We must consider this with just as much, if not more importance.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

- Marianne Williamson
 
We must also shift our way of thinking about failure. The only failure really is in not trying- in settling for less than we know we can become. In following what others are doing, because it's safe. Expressing our unique selves fully is scary. We ask ourselves, "What if people judge me?" We are scared to let our hearts guide us because the heart might lead us to do things that are different, things that are scary and uncomfortable. What we need to remind ourselves is that this is a good thing! It means we are becoming stronger and building ourselves from within.

Let us trust in the way of the heart. Even though its language is sometimes confusing, our heart will ultimately guide us to our truest, most fulfilled and freest selves. The way of the heart challenges us to push our limits of what we think we can do. The way of the heart is sometimes scary. But when we face fear and take risks, we build incredible self trust, inner strength, confidence and knowledge about ourselves.

"Do one thing a day that scares you."

Julie