Fear Is Natural, But Progress And Courage Are Intentional

I have come to understand that fear is not a flaw, as no human is born absolutely fearless. Fear is part of the natural proclivities of humans. A lot of the world-changers and great people you admire have, at some points, felt fear. Fear can be broad and can include fear of embarrassment, of the unknown, of failure, of the future, etc. Just to let you know; the people that move forward in life and make progress are not necessarily those who are fearless, but those who have looked beyond their fears and despised the fear.

One of the major undoings of a lot of people, as I have observed, is that they want to feel ready before they take a step. That is, they want every atom of fear to vanish first or they want to build confidence first. However, what they fail to understand is that it does not always work that way. Courage does nor necessarily mean that fear is non-existent, neither does progress wait until you are ready. It demands that you take steps and put in actions even in the line of your most dominant fears. If you do not act, you may keep believing that you are not good enough to have achieved the result.

I was having a discussion with a family friend who just retired from firefighters work. I asked him how he felt every time he went to fight fire or to rescue people from burning buildings. He said that he was always afraid at every single time, but he kept reminding himself that it has to be done to protect people and to prevent harm. It was this that motivated him and gave him the courage at each time to undertake such risky job. One thing he told me was that, the people who saw him charge against the flames would think that he was born fearless, but it was not so; no one is born fearless. He was simply intentional to do what he feared, and over time, he developed courage. This taught me a very vital and insightful lesson in life that courage does not mean that all the factors of fears are absent, rather it means despising and disregarding the fear and acting nonetheless.

In reality, you do not have to completely erase fears first before progress is made, rather you only need to refuse to be controlled by fear. When you start from where you are and take actions towards what you have dreamt about, you will be surprised how fears will constantly keep receding. Fears will always come to discourage you from taking actions, and may even want to negate your potentials. But one thing to do is to try even when you are fearful and unsure. Even if you try and fail, at least you tried, and you would have overcome the fears that have kept you from trying. Do not listen to the voice that tells you that you cannot do something, rather focus on what you want to do and take the step.

Being intentional about courage and progress means taking steps and embracing discomfort. For example; applying for that position even if you are unsure of the outcome, going on that exploration, asking that question without the fear of looking stupid, etc. The confidence that you want will come after you have taken the courage to take an action, not before it. This is the reason confidence has to be practised in order to master it.

You do not have to start with a giant stride. Even the small actions you take will count towards building your confidence. You will agree with me that if you do what you have done many times, there is a kind of confidence that you will generate to do the task. You see, a small start today, will keep building your confidence until you start going beyond your limit. More often than not, progress is not a measure of a massive start, but constant and continuous forward movements even if you have to start small. Remember that you cannot stop fear from arising, but you can either choose to allow it to control you, or you can control it by taking actions that scare you.

Thanks for reading