Don't Blink. Staring Down Fear is More Than Just a Cliché.
I can think of ten things offhand that many people fear.
Fear of: ... spiders ... the unknown ... heights ... public speaking ... closed spaces ... public places ... the dark ... people ... failure ... success
Sure some of these may not all apply to you. Maybe none of them do. Some are more mundane. (Spiders: what's to like?). Others may be avoidable to a certain extent (Public speaking: don't like it, don't do it). Others may seem way off base. (Who is scared of success?) And, maybe on your list there is something that other people would laugh at. I know someone who has a fear of stickers. She knows it sounds crazy, but she can't help it.
The notion that staring fear down and you will overcome it, is not a new one. What is meant by staring down fear is that you don't let something that you fear overwhelm you. It means that you gather your inner resources and channel them to strengthening your resolve. It sounds mundane, but it is actually a stark lesson in resilience, that we should try to conjure up in many situations, not just "when we need it most," but also in other situations, like ensuring that we get a seat at the leadership table, or reaching out to that person that could really help us, if we just ask for that help.
Staring down fear is profound act of the expression of self-confidence, or if not, it is a defiant act of "faking it till we make it". It is a statement of emancipation and independence from that which seeks to lock us down in unwanted chains.
#resilience #confidence #selfconfidence #facingfears #resolve #fakingittillyoumakeit #defiance #help