Monday Motivation 9/4/2000

"He who is afraid of a thing gives it power over him" -- Moorish proverb

It doesn't matter who you are, really. It hits all of us, sooner or later: Fear.

Of all the emotions, fear is the one that holds most people back. How are you doing on the fear scale?

Do you:

1. Put off calling someone, because you're afraid of what she'll say?

2. Refrain from taking simple risks, because you're afraid of failure?

3. Make excuses, rather than challenges, because you're afraid of the pain that growth brings?

4. Avoid parties and gatherings because they make you feel nervous?

5. Avoid public speaking, just because they would need a shop vac to suck up all the sweat?

6. Get queasy when standing on top of high shoes?

Most of us have something that we fear. It may be dogs, or nighttime, or high places; it may be spiders, snakes, or public speaking.

But it may also be the fear of involvement, the fear of committal, the fear of change, or the fear of too much joy.

We create paralysis in ourselves because of the fears that we hold sacred.

"Wait a minute there," you are saying to yourself. "What did he mean by that last crack? I don't hold my fears sacred. They paralyze me."

Sure they paralyze you. They're a reaction that you've developed to an uncomfortable situation, usually when you were just a snot-nosed (as my father used to say) kid. Sometime, somewhere, somebody laughed at you when you were learning to play baseball, and now, you have a dreadful fear of sports; or you stood up to say your lines in the 3rd grade play, and you forgot them, stammering and stuttering on stage, while everybody looked away.

Sure...fears were real, once upon a time. They were inventions that your mind made to keep you from doing stupid things. But now, you're all grown up; it's probably time to get rid of those fears that you have clung to all of these years.

Getting rid of fears is not the most comfortable thing to do, but it's easier than you might believe. Ralph Waldo Emerson had it when he said: Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain.

If you're afraid of meeting people, the only way you'll get over it is to meet them. If you've got a deathly fear of public speaking, try Toastmasters. If you've got a fear of your checkbook, then balance it.

If we confront our fears, rather than just coddling them, we can accomplish real growth in our lives, because fear of failure is one of the chief reasons why people don't excel.

Og Mandino, in his wonderful book "The Greatest Salesman in the World," has has one of his great laws the following:

"If I feel fear I will plunge ahead."

Take the plunge.

Copyright, 2000, by Daryl R. Gibson and WeekdayWisdom.com. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for the non-commercial use of this document as long as it retains this copyright and all lines and images remain intact. This does not allow the compilation and marketing of this material, whether for commercial or non-commercial use. Join us at http://www.WeekdayWisdom.com.

I just can't resist not adding a link to Og Mandino's Book "The Greatest Salesman in the World." It's a one-in-a-million masterpiece, but is written so anybody can gain enjoyment from its simple truths. If you haven't read it yet, do yourself a very big favor and get it today.