What I have realized as the base of all anxiety, procrastination, failures and lack of motivation is fear. To single out, its not the fear or beasts, ghost or failure. Neither it is the fear of your shortcomings or what-if’s. Its the fear of “unknown” that trumps all form of fears. Now the bigger question is how do you get over it, defeat it.
Now this is where, I begin dissecting my fears. I break my fear in to smaller components and it will turn out eventually that the root cause of the fear was something so insignificant that you would laugh at it or something that you would easily bypass it. Easier said than done but you have to go through the uncomfortable journey of dissecting your fears which many give up on.
Let’s understand this with the help of an example.
Imagine you’ve been putting off starting your own business for years. The thought of it makes your palms sweat and your stomach churn. “I’m just not ready,” you tell yourself for the umpteenth time. But are you really not ready, or are you just scared shitless?
Let’s grab our mental scalpel and start cutting into this fear:
- “I might fail.” Okay, and? What does failure actually look like here? You lose some money? You have to go back to a regular job? Is that really worse than never trying at all?
- “I don’t know enough.” About what exactly? Running a business? Accounting? Marketing? News flash: nobody knows everything when they start. That’s what Google, mentors, and making mistakes are for.
- “People might judge me.” Who are these people? Your judgmental Aunt Karen? Random strangers on the internet? Why the hell do their opinions matter more than your dreams?
- “I’m comfortable where I am.” Are you really? Or are you just used to the discomfort of unfulfilled potential?
- “What if it’s harder than I thought?” Newsflash, sunshine: it will be. But so what? Since when did “hard” mean “not worth doing”?
See what’s happening here? We’re peeling back the layers of this big, scary “unknown” and finding a bunch of smaller, more manageable fears underneath. And here’s the kicker – most of these fears are either:
a) Things you can prepare for b) Things that aren’t as bad as you think c) Things that are gonna happen whether you try or not
The point isn’t to magically make the fear disappear. It’s to see it for what it really is – a bunch of “what ifs” and worst-case scenarios that your brain cooks up to keep you safe in your comfort zone.
But here’s the truth bomb: your comfort zone is a lie. It’s not comfortable; it’s stagnant. It’s a slow death of potential, wrapped up in the illusion of safety.
So next time you feel that paralyzing fear creeping in, whip out your mental dissection kit. Cut that fear open. Poke at its insides. Ask yourself, “What am I really afraid of here?” Be brutally honest with yourself.
You might find that the monster under your bed is really just a dust bunny with delusions of grandeur. And once you see that, you can vacuum that sucker up and move on with your life.
Remember, fear doesn’t go away. It’s part of being human. But by dissecting it, understanding it, you take away its power to control you. You turn it from a roadblock into a speed bump.
So go ahead, face your fears. Dissect them. And then, do the damn thing anyway. Because on the other side of fear? That’s where the good stuff is. That’s where you become who you’re meant to be.
Now get out there and start cutting.
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