What do you do when you experience fear in your life? Do you run and hide or rise to the occasion and face it head-on?
There two types of fear in our lives; good and bad. Good fear keeps us safe from danger. For example, most of us have a healthy fear of tornadoes, hurricanes and other situations and people that can cause us harm. Then there is bad fear, fear of rejection, problems or situations that could possibly be resolved and fear of consequences of our actions – just to name a few.
I know it can be easy to look at the word fear as an acronym for Forget Everything And Run. For many years of my life, that is what I did every time when I experienced fear. I believed that if I didn’t see, face or if I just ignored what frightened me it will just go away. I started when I was young. I ran, hid and avoided bad report cards, asking a girl out or even asking a friend for his phone number on the last day of school, and giving someone bad news or telling them something that I knew would disappoint them, especially when I had to face my parents after I did something wrong.
I was young. I was foolish. I was wrong! Forgetting everything and running from my fears did not make them go away, it caused unnecessary anxiety about grades, missed opportunities with girls I wanted to date, loss of friendships that still haunt me today and it made things worse when it came to punishments from my parents for inappropriate behavior.
The days of forget everything and run are behind me. I have discovered a better way to deal with anything that frightens me and a new acronym for the word fear – Face Everything And Rise.
