Sometimes when I sit down for a moment to think about life, there will be lots of "what ifs" that run through my mind, and most of these thoughts end up compounding with my fears. We have been told several times that our greatest enemy is fear, but fear remains the one thing that most humans have in common, which we face almost on a daily basis. I think it's normal for humans to be afraid of one thing or another at different points in their lives. Personally, I can't control every thought that flies into my mind, but I try not to allow negative thoughts to stay and cause me fear, which is why I am becoming courageous and taking actions to face my fears.
Over the years, my greatest fear used to be failure and death, but not anymore. The fear of poverty has been what I have been dealing with, and I call it a "mental obstacle". This fear started after a terrible financial crisis I encountered with my family in the past. Do you know the feeling of starting a family on a good note financially, and along the way, everything went down the drain? And you are left only with the option of beginning afresh with nothing to fall back on? That was the picture of my past experience. When I was growing up, I never experienced a luxury kind of life with my parents and siblings, but I have never experienced abject poverty. Still, life was just a little bit fair but not rosy. However, this experience I am talking about here was a practical feeling of severe poverty.
I remember discussing with a close friend all that was happening around me and my family, and in the process, I took a selfie and sent it to her. She screamed and asked if I was suffering from a terminal disease without telling anyone, but it was far from it. Nothing like terminal disease but a taste of poverty and a definition of from grace to grass. I think what made me look so horrible then was the kind of thought going on in my brain that made me feel worthless and lost hope in life. I really wouldn't want to dig deep into this experience, but when my family and I finally break out of that ugly poverty experience, I wouldn't think twice without thinking of "what if" I should experience such again, or "what if" I can't find my husband tomorrow and then experience such a kind of poverty and I am made to take on responsibilities all by myself? There were lots of negative "what-ifs" I dealt with before I took the bold decision to confront my fears. See below the actions I took:
Cultivating a positive mindset was the very first action I embraced in confronting this fear. Before then, I usually had this self-doubt about my abilities, looking down on myself for what I could or could not achieve, but gradually, I developed a clear vision of what I wanted in life and focused my goal on achieving that.
My husband happened to be the last child of his mother but also the only child who shoulder the responsibilities of his siblings and his family at large. And then I told him that sometimes you need to take drastic action and plan on standing firm financially, escaping drawbacks for a moment, to build a business so you can be able to handle the unending responsibilities of your family. Otherwise, building a business and facing financial drawbacks at the same time might linger such a business to God knows when. This was how he agreed for us to build a business, which is currently in progress. I told myself that establishing a business and securing assets gradually can be a good step to facing this fear of poverty while employing more strategies to achieve financial stability. So far, I have remained focused and consistently working on my goals, and to a large extent, I do not feel this fear like before.
Finally, talking about building financial stability as a way of confronting the fear of poverty, I participated in #LPUD today. Gradually growing this second layer token and anticipating a better future.
This is my response to the #hivelearners contest on the topic titled Facing my fears and also my entry to #Aprilinleo monthly topic Day 15.Please check out the announcement post to get involved.
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Image 2 was designed in canva
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