National Face Your Fears Day

If someone asked you what you’re most afraid of, what would you say? Public speaking? Heights? Failure? October 13^th is National Face Your Fears Day created by Steve Hughes. He states, “It’s a one-of-a-kind catalyst designed to give people the permission, the encouragement and the little nudge they need to step up to their fears and say no more.” He suggests just making a list and getting it out in the open. How different would your life be if you identified what scares you and made a plan to overcome those fears?

As a person who worries about many things, I can tell you I have several fears. I spent an hour this past weekend thinking about all the things I’m truly fearful of. After making that list, I felt such a sense of relief. To be candid, my top fear is passing away while my children are young. I don’t want to miss seeing them grow up and being there for them. Once I said it out loud, I was able to partially conquer this fear in that I realized that they know how much I love them and we have a great family who would care for them. I think Mr. Hughes is right in suggesting we all should complete this exercise. 

Identifying your fears should be relatively easy, but conquering them is definitely a little more complex. After making my list, my mind started reeling with questions like where do I even start? And will my tactics be effective? Do I have to face my fears daily or for the rest of my life?? I think a little common sense goes a long way here. I plan to continue to remind myself that everything WILL be okay if something happened to me. 

It seems as though there is an overwhelming sense of fear these days. Maybe it’s the pandemic, the uncertainty around the election and our economy, the stock market, etc. My husband always tells me to only worry about the things I can control. That is very hard to do but a wonderful practice. What if we just took a break from all the crazy and just focus on ourselves for a moment. We will get a handle on the virus at some point. We will receive election results and move on. Our economy will improve. The stock market is often volatile but does go up over time. 

So, what do you fear most? Can you overcome it? Will you be a better person for it? I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes about fear:

“You can gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”  — Eleanor Roosevelt