The Secret to Overcoming Fear

Is there something holding you back? I’ve been holding on to something that’s stopped me from feeling my very best. Fear. As the author of www.ladiesliveandlearn.com this is hard for me to admit because I am all about helping moms and myself to become healthy and happy. Facing unhealthy fears is something that you must do to achieve wellness.

What got me so frazzled? A common fear shared by many moms. Two words “child birth”.  The old “what’s got to come out of where?” concern. In all fairness I had good reason to become afraid after my harrowing experience with it. But unhealthy fear doesn’t play fair. It can be unreasonable and unwarranted. It can be justifiable and understandable. But mostly it can be the reason we aren’t living our best life.

There are many forms of unhealthy fear. From common phobias like a fear of speaking, heights or of snakes. To something more serious like a fear of failure. Michael Jordan once said about fearing failure that “I’ve failed over and over again in my life. That’s why I succeed”.

Moms are masters at overcoming fear. We must simply understand, unlock and exercise our aptitude to do it. Our innate ability to overcome fear is evidenced with child rearing. Moms are skilled at mentoring and molding their children to fearlessly pursue their dreams.

Since having my daughter I hadn’t been back into a delivery room. My chance to confront my fear came with my sister’s announcement that she was having another baby. I wasn’t going to allow my fear to rob me of the joy of enjoying the moment with her. With knees a little wobbly I rushed to the hospital to be with her when the call came. It turned out to be a call to let go of the fear and let my faith take over which is the key to overcoming it.

The antidote for fear is faith. Faith is a verb. It is an action word that must be exercised. You build your faith by acting on what you believe in. Confronting your fears because you believe that you can overcome them is the secret to winning the fear fight.  

Here are some tips to help you fight the fear factor:

Identify It: It’s important to understand what has got you afraid.

Feel It: You can’t deal with what you don’t acknowledge. Allowing yourself to feel the pain for a brief time is important to moving past it. Don’t dwell on the pain long or linger on past failures. Have faith to believe that you will be better next time. And you will take what you learned from the experience to ensure that you do that.

Believe It: Believe you can overcome your fear. No matter how small or large, you can do it. You must build your belief that you will be successful at overcoming your fears.

Confront It: Face off with your fear. Set yourself up for success by dealing with your fear head on in a healthy way.