What Would You Do If You Had No Fear?
If you had no fear, what would you do? Who would you be? What dreams like buried or denied on the other side of fear?I t's an amazing question, actually, because after many crashes and hurts and losses, fear has become such a part of our lives that we don't even realize how it stops us or how long it has been doing so.
In youth, we are fearless. We often don't understand why "adults" are so limited. Many of us even thought, "if I ruled the world . . . how different things would be!" Those are great memories, yet we may find ourselves wincing at the realization of how many dreams have never happened or how many dreams got dropped because the pain just got too big. And then there's the melancholy we can experience as we question why we were unable to do what we thought would be so easy.
As conscious and curious human beings, we are fascinated with such musings. Unlike so many, who may have put their dreams away long ago, you know that nothing has to be. As the saying goes, "nothing changes til you do!" So,let's change!
Let your imagination unwind. Imagine what could be if you moved beyond all your fears and could do and be anything you desire. What comes to mind? What dreams have you dropped or buried that may still be available to you?
My son just returned from a trip to Ubud in Bali. He saw starving dogs and begging children. He witnessed incredible poverty and hunger amidst a breathtaking landscape. Our inner fears block out the beauty all around us. We lose so much in our frantic searchings or in a fear-filled shutting down that we do to avoid pain. Surprisingly, in the contrast between such great beauty and fear, my son met the father of an old college buddy. Born and raised in Iowa, this man now lives in Bali as CEO of an organic coconut sugar and chocolate business. His workplace is the biggest bamboo building in the world. My son said, "I always found him to be an inspiring man with such an amazing life!" What makes this man different than the rest of us? He's living his dream. Are you?
So the ultimate question is: if you had no fear, what would you do? Who would you be? Are you truly doing what you love? Are you living where you want to live? Are you sharing life with people you love and enjoy and who love and savor who you are? If you answer "no" to any of these questions, then perhaps its time to start taking inventory of all you have and all you are doing. Life is a gift! Are you receiving it's bounty and if not, why not? More likely than not, it's because of fear!
Fear holds us to a job we don't enjoy rather than a career we love. Fear stops us from making money, from having fun, from reaching out to someone we'd like to know better. It ties us down in relationships that are less than they ever should be. It can hold us to mediocrity with excuses that we're better off than so many who have less! Is that the way its supposed to be? Was mother right, when she criticized saying, "why can't you just be satisfied with what you've got??!!"
But, if any of this was true for you, you wouldn't be reading this post. If accepting mediocrity and limitation was the way it was supposed to be, you wouldn't be interested in exploring more of who you are. There's really only one thing that stops any of us and that is we are afraid to reach beyond what we know. We are afraid to let go of relationships even if they don't serve us - even if they are destructive. We are afraid to truly love ourselves. Y eah, mom may have criticized that too! Perhaps she called you selfish for wanting to love yourself! But, as you now know that was just damaging programming.
It is never too late to start dreaming. To really dream with the idea of what life can be when you are continuously reaching for more because you keep accomplishing what you desire. You really don't want to give up; you really aren't a quitter, but fear gets in the way.
Perhaps it is time to move beyond the fears that stop us. Maybe you don't necessarily want to move to Bali and run a coconut-chocolate plantation, but you can start doing more and more of the things you love. Open to what's possible on the other side of the fears that have stopped you - even crippled you for so long. Imagine your life on the other side of fear!
On the other side of fear, you can discover the passion you once knew so well. You can also find the joy that fuels success and the power to make things happen - just the way you always thought it could be done. If this article speaks to you, hear the call. Take the next step that can change everything by moving beyond fear and doing things that you may never before have even dared to do!
