When was the last time you said, "Enough is enough, I cannot continue living this way?" Did you go for what you wanted? How did you manage to overcome the fear? That is what I will like to talk about today. Let me share a little story. So, I decided in my fourth year to start selling ladies' jewelry. On the first day, my classmate bought almost everything, so I was very motivated to get another stock of rings, and I went ahead to get lipstick stock. Let me tell you, my friends, 'Liwe liwalo' I was stranded with my stock; wondering what to do next. The only option was to start hawking these products to hostels, but the fear I had to start hawking was on another level. So the next day, I said, enough is enough, I need to face my fears, so I went ahead and hawked my stuff anyway. Nothing happened to me, and nobody laughed at me. We all have our own stories. Dark moments, moments of panic and distress, that day when you sweat, and your hands were shaking and your thoughts could not let you be, I get it, it is part of our daily existence. The fact is, you may feel fear, but you do not give in to it. If we flee, we will never be victorious against anything. A coward always runs away. Some of us have grown to make fear an obvious thing, our vocabulary includes fear. For example, 'I am afraid my husband is cheating on me'
or,' I am afraid I will not pass those exams' To overcome our fears, we need to change our vocabulary. Our words are powerful, and they can build or destroy. Every time we articulate fear in our lives, we are affirming it and making room for it. I remember the story of Job, what he said came into existence. These were his words, 'What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me" Changing our vocabulary will change our mindset, as the bible says, "As a man thinketh, so he is"
Fear is devastatingly real. All of us at some point have faced it. Fears vary, from fear of public speaking to fear of rejection, failure, spiders, panic attacks, and this feeling can prevent us from reaching our full potential, and also identifying our strengths. The things we fear may seem unconquerable, but I think they are not. How to overcome fear teaches us that the closer you get to your fears, the more you understand them, and the more easily you can defeat them.
The first step to overcome this fear is to acknowledge that the problem exists, right? Like, how can you tackle something you ain't aware of, something you have absolutely no knowledge about, and something you do not know if it exists. I understand, sometimes our fears can be either subconscious or unconscious, and then later you wonder why you are postponing certain things, why you are afraid to approach certain situations, this can be subconscious, and you have to take good quality of time to do some retrospection or reflection, so that you may be aware of the existence. In addition, acknowledging that problem exist also come with the acceptance of what you are afraid of.
The second step is to seek help. Most of us cannot face it alone. We need other people to hold our hands through it, for example, counselors and loved ones.
It is not the work that kills men, it is worry and fears. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more upon a person than he can bear. Worry and fear are like rust on machinery. It is not the revolution that destroys the machinery, but the friction due to rust
Beryl Pfizer.
