What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?

A few days ago, I wrote about a book called Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway and asked you think about your fears. Today I’m hosting the first-ever Write Tribe Blog Carnival here and asking you this question:

What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?

Do your fears hold you back from being all you can be? I invite you to think about this and share your thoughts by writing a post on your blog and adding the link to the linky at the bottom of this post. If you don’t have a blog, do share your thoughts in the comments.

What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?

I answered that question some years back in a post, telling you what I would do if I were brave.

I know I’ve come a long way since then. I’ve fought a lot of my demons and become bolder and more vocal. I’ve learned to fight that inner critic that tells me I’m not creative. I’ve begun to own my creativity, but still have to journey further in this. I’m trying to overcome my me.phobia! 😉

Another fear I had was of saying ‘no’ to people. I was afraid to be unpopular. Not any more, I’ve taken a stand against people even when it led to my being treated like a leper by some. I knew I had done the right thing and I was not afraid.

One of my greatest fears was to look deeply into some of my relationships. I feared I would realize the truth of how I had been misunderstood and used. I decided to look the other way or pretend that it was not so.

There’s a story about two missionaries who left their compound to walk to a nearby river. As they stood watching the current, they saw a dead body floating downstream. They waded into the water, retrieved the body, dug a grave, and buried it. They then returned to the river and saw two more bodies. After burying them, they returned and saw four bodies. It was then that one turned to the other and said, “Maybe it would be a good idea if we went upstream.”

Yes, like that missionary, I tried to ‘go upstream’ and pretend that I didn’t need to deal with the issues from my past that were affecting my present behaviour and choices.

But realizing that only the truth could set me free, I decided to be brave.  Allowing myself to be honest, acknowledging my past, I was able to forgive and move forward.

This is a continuous process, because our fears don’t disappear overnight, but we have to be brave enough to acknowledge them and move beyond them.

That’s my story. What’s yours? Do share by commenting, writing on your blog and adding your linky here.

Add this button to your post. Thanks!

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