Choose Life Not F.E.A.R.
Posted on November 12, 2020 by Christina Dalton, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.
Don’t allow your limiting beliefs to keep you from reaching your goals and your passions. It is what we do with failure that counts.
Recently I listened to a commencement speech Jim Carey, the comedian, delivered to celebrating college graduates. In his speech he reminisced of his dad. Carey stated that his dad could have been a comedian, but he chose what he thought was the safer road – to be an accountant. When Carey was 12 years old his dad lost his job. The family had to scramble for money to pay the bills. The elder Carey chose the accountant route, not for passion, but out of fear of not having stable work. We all know fear. Fear is the most fundamental survival mechanism. Throughout history it served our ancestors well to avoid deadly situations whether in the primitive days against man-eating animals or to defend our land and family. We fear the loss of those we love, our personal safety and the possibility of losing our job or home. But – remember as children when we were fearless. My brothers and I would stack as many children as possible on a Schwinn Banana seat bicycle and from the steepest street we would see how far we could travel praying not to crash. Did I mention that I straddled the handle bars? We imagined all the possibilities of what our future could be on long summer nights. We had dreams and passions bigger than each of us. We were fearless. As adults often it is F.EA.R. – False Evidence Appearing Real – that has ended our desire to reach our passions and all the goals we aspired to as children. F.EA.R. is the sensation we experience in the face of taking action to reach our dreams. This is not true fear. As adults we may be afraid of failure, or what others would think. We may even believe we are not good enough or capable enough to achieve our true passions. Where did our fearlessness go? It is F.E.A.R. that can put out the fire of all we are truly capable of being and paralyze us to all the possibilities. Life is about possibilities. Life is about opportunities. We have the opportunity to always grow, reach our passions and continue to dream as children as we achieve these passions. Don’t lose the child in you. Strive. Re-establish your dreams – and pick Life not F.E.A.R.