"The Fears We Don't Face Become Our Limits"
Fear is such a personal thing. What one person fears, someone else wouldn't give a second thought to. We do indeed set limits because of fear. If we fear something we don't want to do it or be put in a situation where it might happen. If that occurs, we panic. It can be paralysing. We become nervous, break out in a sweat and sometimes highly agitated. Depending on the type of fear, it can be quite debilitating and make life unbearable.
I live in an area now that has a lot of beautiful parklands and waterways and along with that an extensive bike pathway system. Great, my husband said. We'll get you a bike and we can go for some lovely bike rides on the weekend. The trouble with that is I have never had a bike, even as a kid and never really learnt to ride one, not well anyway. I also as a kid had a bad accident on a bike on one of the rare occasions that I actually rode one. Soooo, I avoided ever riding one again. I had a fear, irrational as it may sound, of getting on a bike and riding it. Now I know most of you are thinking Whatttt!!! Has a fear of riding a bike!! I know, but there it is.
Now, this however is the first step to overcoming this fear. Owning the fear. I have told the world here in this article what I fear and you know what? It sounds ridiculous. But fear is not rational. Our mind does things that we don't want it to but we can overcome them.
There are all sorts of things that people are fearful of. Flying, crowded places, driving, dogs .... I could go on and on. Often the fear can be traced back to a certain time and place but ultimately to get past the fear we need to face it head on but at a pace that we are comfortable with and with the help of an encouraging friend as an enabler if possible.
So tomorrow I am going to buy myself a bike (and a helmet) and get out there and start riding it. Familiarity is the thing that will get you past the fear and stop you being limited by that fear. Practice it. Do it over and over and over and over again. You will gradually get used to it. Some may take a short time, others much longer but eventually it will become something that you don't fear. And the sense of achievement will be something that will give you cause to pat yourself on the back. No one else will look twice but you will know and that's what matters.
Face your fears. It's good for your soul.
Ros O'Connor
Thinking DNA - www.thinkingdna.com.au
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