How Owning Your Fears Can Open Up Opportunities

Do you ever sit and reflect on your fears? Not just fears of objects like spiders or experiences like being too high, but the fears that end up being impediments in your life?

​I'm saying fears of commitment, success, failure, betrayal, disappointment, loneliness, poverty etc. Reflecting and owning those type of fears is something serious. Those emotionally driven types of fears drive us in the opposite direction of a path that many times leads to bliss.

​Even though in previous years I've pursued life trying not to let fear get the best of me, something about this year, has me keeping my fears in check and in the forefront of my mind. Let me tell you, when you're real with your self about how debilitating those fears can be, or even how much more life you can live, if you just walk through those fears, you will be moved. I journal often, for two reasons. Journaling is cathartic for me and is a form of therapy and self care. Secondly, when I'm in reflection mode, it allows a snapshot of my mental or emotional state, and I can check in on how I was in a moment and come to terms with whether I've been growing or still remain in that state.

​What I've learned is, unless you are constantly taking those fears head on, they will remain tucked away in your psyche. The longer those fears remain, the more times opportunities and lessons will present themselves so that you can overcome those specific fears.

​Facing fears is totally an act of self love. With a fear present, you have the opportunity to honor your spirit by  acknowledging your discomfort and the presence of whatever you are holding on to. You honor your self and your right to a life of freedom by moving through and beyond that fear to unlock something that would seem unattainable because of the fear.

If you have a fear of rejection, then applying for a dream job or approaching a romantic interest is absolutely something you don't want to do. Yet, the process of even acknowledging the fear as well as the root of its source, is powerful. When something is known and in the light, its power is not as strong than if it is hidden and unknown. The next step is to say to your self, even though I'm afraid of rejection, I'm not going to let that fear keep me from the possibilities of this life. So you apply for the job and you make your advancement to the crush! Regardless of the outcome, you have walked through fear, and allowed yourself to be open to the possibilities.

​Every outcome is 50/50. Things will pan out how you want or not. You'll get the job or not. The relationship will work out or not.  Tomorrow will come for you, or it won't. Fear gives us this false idea of control; that if we avoid the circumstance that elicits fear, we will be safe or we will not have to face the very thing we fear, but we know that's not truth. The very thing we fear will actually present itself more than we'd like it to, and instead of living from a place where we let a fear rule us, why not choose free will?

​I recently did an amazing exercise where I had to reflect on what I would like my ideal life to look like. Once I visualize the awesomeness of my future, I had to be honest and name all the reasons I wasn't there, and what did I needed to let go of, in order to progress towards that life. I've recognized some major shifts in me, and I'm so grateful.

​I believe anytime you own your truths, you unlock another door of freedom. You get to acknowledge your imperfections, while also expressing accountability, as well as steps that you will help you get to where you truly desire to be.

​It may be helpful to not only think about your fears, but write them down, and maybe even verbally express them. Express them to a loved one you trust or record a video to yourself. Not only expressing the fears, but also acknowledging where they came from, how they have impacted your choices, and that it's time to let them go so you can live the life you really want.

​It's a process but I'm telling you it will work! We all have areas of ourselves we're confident and insecure about, and its totally ok, but again, why let your mind keep you imprisoned? We owe it to ourselves and the world to at least attempt to live our best lives! It's not about not having fears, its just about not giving them power over your life!

BE Bold,

​Tiffany W.