This piece is personal but it will resonate with most. It won’t be funny, but it will be steeped in irony, the irony of life. Throughout the course of our human timeline, be it evolution, be it growth, or whatever connotation of advancement you may want to use, progress was always a direct product of the marriage between fear and the confrontation of fear.
Fear, in and of itself, is a crippling notion. It’s scary, downright overwhelming, and it shakes in us the value of our most precious possession: existence. Whether you consider existence in its literal meaning or existence in a comfortable mental realm, the equation always remains the same: Find what scares you, and do it.
Confronting fear is by far one of the best tools we were blessed with. Should you learn how to master it, the sky is the limit. We are fearful creatures, akin to every breathing creature that shares this earth with us, but in our fear, we often miss the opportunity to grow beyond our own vision.
We have a negative overview of opportunity and prospects. How is it okay that we make statements such as “But, what if I fail?” and not “But, what if I succeed?” How is it okay that, we are constantly hindered by our petty fears, without developing a greater fear of missing out because of this fear?
Yes: be afraid of your fear crippling you. But be so afraid to the point where the only thing you can do is fight it. Rid yourself of contingency, because it keeps fear alive, it feeds your fear and grows it, because the deeper you dive, the bigger the contingency, hence the more fearful you become.
Yes again, I am saying be illogical, be foolish, bend yourself beyond what you think you can tolerate. Great things will happen. It’s really that simple. I mean it. I know it. I can prove it.
I was broke and broken, I was in shambles, I was laughed at, I was told I am crazy to pursue “passion” in this day and age. I was more broke, more broken, I was in more shambles, yet I laughed at myself. But throughout it all, I maintained two qualities: my consistency in my deliverables and effort, and my tenacity to want more, the more I was told “no”.
How did I pull it together? I hired fear in my plan:
Afraid I might not do a good job? I prepared extra and spent nights visualizing the product
Afraid I will fail? I spent nights deciding what items I would sell first to survive (not contingency, but realistically)
Afraid that someone might deny me what I want? I worked extra hard.
I let nothing bring me down, including myself. I would often silence myself because I was being fearful. I would push beyond the boundaries of my own capability and mental health, and every single time it broke me, I learned to piece myself together and become stronger.
I had fear, but I tamed it, I gave my brain no time to process it, constantly making moves and working hard.
This is where I’ll share the lesson I learned: Do what you fear most and either you succeed or you will learn how to overcome it the next time you want to attack it again.
Fear is a cowardly product of our selves trying to preserve itself. Drop it, what’s the best that can happen? Every awesome thing you ever wanted. What’s the other worst that can happen? You can re-adopt it and lead your life as it was.
In 2014, I erased fear from my system. It’s 2017, I literally have everything I ever wanted for myself and this statement is beyond finances: I have peace of mind, confidence, potential and most importantly courage to face any challenge.
Fear is unnecessary, I dare you to prove me wrong…unless you’re scared of taking me up on my challenge.
“Stay Foolish, Stay Hungry” Whole Earth Catalogue.
George Tarabay is a local comedian and marketing expert. For his latest updates, follow him on Instagram: @GeorgeTarabay. For more comic relief, check out George on Facebook.com/Georgethecomic. Featured image by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash.
