Is fear keeping you from achieving your goals?

I write this now, but just three months ago, I would’ve needed to be the recipient of this post. You see, I’m a chicken… A chicken masked in human flesh, and enabled with a parrot voice. Everything I have done until today has been validated by others. And in cases when it was not validated by others, it was done with skepticism… and more times than not, in secrecy. So to put it plainly, I have always let fear keep me from achieving my goals.

So why am I even writing this now if I have only just come out of my shell? Well, the answer to that is simple… Living in that shell was safe, but it was extremely confining. Living in that shell robbed me of excitement, adventures and experiences that I would never want you to miss.

So consider this a message from your friendly, neighbourhood blogger to do some introspection and get rid of your fears. Well, getting rid of them isn’t actually the objective… rather, grab them by the b***s and face them head on.

The way I see it, we can classify fear into three categories.

The fear of failure:

Related: My biggest fears of starting a YouTube channel

I think everyone is familiar with this one. We always want to be on top of the world, be the best at everything and even be recognised for our achievements. We want… but we don’t always get. What lies on the opposite end of winning is failing, and nobody wants that. So what we end up doing is not trying at all. I mean, how can you fail if you don’t even try, am I right?

But failing to try is failure in itself.

Let that sink in. *Sips tea*

In all my two years alive on this earth, I’ve known many people who just didn’t try. Ironically, they were the cool kids in school, or the cool kids in the graduate programme… Now that I am an adult, I see them for what they were… lazy and afraid. (I’m patenting that for a TV show!)

Don’t be that person!

The fear of success

Yep, you read that right… Some of us fear success probably more so than we fear failure. I have always wanted to be successful in life, but not too successful. I wanted respect, but not too much respect. Oh and don’t get me started on the anxiety of the added responsibilities!

But are you really living if you are only putting half efforts into what you do?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am definitely a hard worker. But I have always been afraid of doing what I really love because I wasn’t sure what I would I do if it actually worked. How would I be able to keep it going? What if the success took so much out of me that I couldn’t recognise myself?

So what happens when a person is afraid to succeed at something they’ve always wanted? They just stick to what everyone else is doing and blend into the background.

Don’t be that person!

The fear of the process

So you’re afraid of what it takes to get started, and fear the end… If that’s all you’re scared of, good on you! You are one down from me on this one.

I have always been afraid of the process of going after my goals. It would be hard work and I would have to juggle so much… It might take longer than I expect… Maybe it would force me to cut out some things (or people) from my life… And would it all be worth it?

These are some of the things that run through my mind with every decision I have to make in life. A third party would easily counter with a “well, what if you love the process and grow as a person?”. But I’m no third party, and that’s as real as it gets.

Don’t be that person!

You may also like: Things that scare me about getting older

Being afraid is human, but how you deal with it shows character

I know you’re expecting me to share some mind-blowing tips on how to deal with the fears, but that’s not what you’re going to find. Unfortunately, such sorcery is reserved for Hogwarts. Instead, I’ll share with you how I have coped with mine and made it work for me. And since I know you get tired of reading, here it is in video form.

Good luck!

Which one of the mentioned fears do you struggle most with?

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