Do Something That Scares You
- Dalton Reeves
- Feb 10, 2020
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 1, 2020
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said "Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world,” and he isn't wrong. We often go through life living in fear rather than living for ourselves, and what we want to do. Since when did this become the norm? Can we not move forward in life or will we forever fall into the shadows of our own fears and failures? Not if we decide not to. We often underestimate the powers of the mind, when in fact, the mind has many more powers than we are willing to even comprehend. The power of positive thought can lead to great accomplishments, and the lack of, can lead to the downward spiral of defeat.
Finding the cure to living our life in fear is a huge undertaking, which is why I have chose to focus on the factor that will give us immediate gratification. What scares you in this moment? And don't give some philosophical deep meaning where you were scarred as a child giving reason to why you don't go through Dairy queen drive thrus anymore, but think about what scares you for the sole reason that its terrifying. What is that? And why does it scare you? Is it rational? Irrational? Are you afraid because people told you should be? Or your brain said so? If your brain is telling you you should be scared, then there must be a part of your brain that is telling you that it will be okay. And it will. The "YOU SHOULDN'T OR WONT" voice in your head is not a manual to live your life.
The benefits of facing your fears are not just physical rush, which is a huge benefit.
ENDORPHINS: Endorphins released when we face our fears increases happiness levels, reduces stress , and creates a positive feeling throughout the body similar to morphine. Endorphins can also alleviate depression, reduce weight, and anxiety, all aspects of our life that we are constantly looking for short term answers for; here it is! In the words of the great Elle Woods, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t.” So let's face our fears, release our endorphins, and not shoot our husbands.
Achievement: We also create a psychological benefit that includes a sense of accomplishment, increase in courage,and removal of barriers that we have created throughout our lives. Remember how excited we were to receive a participation trophy?? The feeling of accomplishment and valor? No? Well it will be way better than that! A euphoria that we can bask in and forget the agony we felt moments before we took the leap and faced our fears.
Social Impact: All the while we focus on ourselves and our fears, we often neglect the impact we make socially to those around us. We leave impressions on our children, we impact those standing in line behind us, and we encourage future generations to make the plunge, take the leap, or stand up and speak. Fear is a powerful thing and much like wildfire and HPV, spreads uncontrollably. Put out the flame! By facing our fears, we can motivate others to do the same, creating a movement, or simply writing a story that others will be jealous of later.
Doing six impossible things every day leads to our very definition on what impossible is. How we define what we can and cannot do creates essentially the guiding bumpers to our exciting bowling alley strike. My encouragement to doing something that scares you is make a Fearless List, similar to a Bucket List, but only contains items that you would do if the courage was present, not just time and money. A list of 20 items can help you break your fears everyday, minimizing the very entity that you engorged so greatly.
A few examples:
- Bungee Jumping
- Skydiving
- Hold a Snake
- Stay the Night in a Haunted Place
- Trust Your Child Driving
- Clean Out the Basement
- Eat Your Mother In Laws Cooking
All fears come from a real place, but so does courage. If we can give more power to that establishment, we will have many more wins than we will have defeats. Thanks Emerson!
We know the perks and motivation behind doing what scares us, but how do we gain the courage to really take the jump. Like myself, standing on the edge of the Queenstown Bridge, with a towel and a rubber band around my feet, I too, was feeling fear throughout my body. How did I gain the courage to ultimately trust the situation, and swan dive possibly to my death? Well there are several steps you can do to help combat these fears that tell you “You can’t do it!”
Acknowledge Your Fear: In order to really face our fears, it is often helpful to personify it. Give it a name. By addressing this fear with a name, you can talk directly to it! When you are standing on that ledge you tell that fear that it won’t control you. We give it power and we can easily take it away!
Visualize Success: Think about what it would mean to conquer this fear. Don’t picture yourself failing, but of succeeding and what that feels like. What sense of accomplishment you would gain from trusting those rubber bands and the people around you? See yourself screaming for joy and jumping back in line!
Stand and Conquer: Sometimes we see people just walk to the ledge and take the plunge with no qualms whatsoever. But not everyone is like that. And that’s okay. Take your time, waddle up to the end, and breathe. You aren‘t like everybody else so take your time, address it, appreciate it, and conquer it!
Utilize Peer Pressure: You are never alone in anything you do, and when we think we our alone, we can stop and rethink. As we wait our turn and they are taking our measurements, acknowledge those who came before you and those standing behind you. You are all in the same boat so why not work together to paddle! Bring a friend with you and do it together. Not only will you be overwhelmed with accomplishment, but you just made a new story with a friend you won’t forget!
You can do this! You can face your fear, no matter how big or small. No matter how you go about facing your fears, the most important aspect is the success!
Doing something that scares us gives us immediate gratification with long term social and emotional benefits, so why not create a legacy for ourselves? For our children or for that baby being born this very moment as you are reading this article. Do it for yourself, Do it for your legacy, Do it for the story!!!
Comments