Do you operate from fear or courage?
Most of us select security over taking risks. The desire for Security can often keep us from living our lives to the fullest. Many of us are taught early on not to take unnecessary risks. We are told to go with the flow, play it safe, don’t stand out too much. To accept your lot and make the best of it. Regardless if you’re in a job that is unfulfilling, or a relationship that has lost its spark, most of us are conditioned to believe its better to be safe and suck it up, then to rock the boat.
One of the consequences of playing it safe is reacting to what life throws at us instead of living proactively. Instead of setting your own goals, taking the necessary steps to achieve them, and going after them with excitement, passion and joy, you play it safe and lack the spark.
What would happen if you lived your life without the emotion of fear? You still had common sense around dangerous situations, and knew right from wrong, yet you lacked fear when it came to speaking up, or asking for more sales, starting that business you dreamed about, or leaving that relationship that was making you miserable. How would the absence of fear change your perspective on life?
Courage is the ability to take action in spite of fear. Courageous people are still afraid, but they don’t let fear prevent them from taking action. Giving into fear actually reinforces the behavior of playing it safe, and can keep us from growing and evolving. The more you avoid asking your boss for a raise, or asking someone out on a date, the more paralyzed you become and actually condition yourself to play small and remain timid.
You 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