FEAR

So what’s been preventing me from reaching my full potential outside of procrastination? When I examined myself deeply, I have to admit, it’s FEAR! Personally, I like the acrostic that FEAR is nothing more than FlawedrnElement of thoughtrnAppearing to bernReal It has consumed my mind far too long. More than likely, it has plagued yours too. So where does FEAR come from? I live in a society where negative affirmations have been instilled in my mindset from toddler until adulthood. I remember hearing “you can’t do that,” “no, you can’t have that,” “no, we can’t afford that,” “you’re not good enough to do that,” and no…no…no…you can’t…you can’t…you can’t…. At some point in time, it sunk into my subconscious where I actually believed it. When challenges came my way, I often ran from them instead of facing them head on. I remember moving to Oakland, CA and attending my Middle School. I loved to play basketball and thought I was pretty darn good too. Well, I decided to try out for the team and because I was the new kid on the block, I definitely had a harder challenge making the 8th grade team. Well, I made the first cuts, and was on the back up squad. None of the other players knew me, and I assumed they were thinking, “Who is this kid and how in the world did he make it past the first cuts?” (Flawed Element of thought Appearing to be Real ignites.) As we practiced, my teammates never passed me the ball. I remember my thoughts being, “Maybe I’m not good enough, maybe I should stick with football, and maybe I should quit before I get cut.” (Flawed Element of thought Appearing to be Real is kicking in full gear right now.) The FEAR to compete and deal with gaining trust from my teammates became scary in my mind. I had made it this far, but that didn’t matter because the FEAR outweighed my love for playing basketball. So I quit before I was able to find out what my true potential was. I had no one to instill positive reinforcement, which played a huge factor in my growing FEAR. The good news is, I later became a great football athlete, but never played on an organized basketball team again. Maybe you can or can’t relate to this story, but the bottom line is that Flawed Elements of thought Appearing to be Real hold us back from reaching our maximum potential. When I think about it, we may have FEARs that we are consciously unaware of and by negative habit, we allow it to consume us. Here are some common FEARs: FEAR of Rejection FEAR of Success FEAR of Poverty FEAR of Ill Health FEAR of Old age FEAR of Death FEAR of Criticism FEAR of Loss of Love of Someone FEAR of Job loss or Lack of Financial Security