Fear is something we all deal with in life and a lot of the time, you may not even realize how your life is directly impacted by your own fearful thoughts and actions.
Here are five signs that fear is currently holding you back from fulfilling your life’s purpose:
You find yourself holding back from doing things that you know you should
Now, this might be a given, but just think about it: How many times have YOU kept YOU from doing something that you know deep down you should?
We are all our own worst enemies, and I know for sure that my biggest villain in life has been myself and this is due to fear.
Fear of rejection, fear of judgment, fear of success, fear of failure, fear of imperfection, you name it – I’ve been there, we all have. Once we all realize that we are creating more stress on ourselves than necessary, we can start to let those fears go.
You find yourself living more in vain
Now this one might catch you off-guard, as a lot of people will confuse confidence and contentment with selfishness and vanity.
There’s a difference.
With a world that thrives on showing off our best lives online, a lot of these “successful” people we are spending our lives comparing ourselves too are just as fearful if not more. If you find yourself constantly trying to prove something or living out selfish desires, you are most likely acting out of the fear acceptance. But there’s good news – you don’t have to!
We have become a society that is so focused on raising people to be independent and strong that we forget we were not made to be independent but rather interdependent. We need others, we need love and we need acceptance – it’s even in the Bible!
But how we go about fulfilling these external desires will affect our internal happiness.
Feeling lonely? Volunteer at a nursing home, many of these elders have no family or friends.
Feeling unattractive? Reach out to a person younger than you and mentor them. Self-esteem issues are on the rise in our younger generation.
Feeling depressed or anxious? Reach out and help a homeless veteran or someone in a VA facility. A lot of our veterans suffer from PTSD and anxiety far worse than you could imagine.
Feeling unloved or unworthy? Spend time at your local animal shelter. These animals value every time they spend with volunteers and are sure to put a smile on your face.
Notice a pattern up above? All of these examples bring happiness to your life by taking the time to reach out to bring happiness to someone else.
You find yourself procrastinating
Ahh, procrastination. If you have ever been in any type of classroom you know this word all too well. A lot of times people associate procrastination with laziness and to a certain extent it is, but often times if you look at the deeper root of why you procrastinate – it’s fear.
You don’t think you’re good enough or will do something good enough because you are afraid, so you keep pushing it off. I’m here to tell you from experience running away from your fears does not help nor fix them!
Try to face each task head on and in the moment, it will make all the difference in your life.
You find yourself trying to control too much
This is another major sign of fear! One of the biggest fears we face as humans… is change!
…and if you find yourself trying to control absolutely everything in your life to avoid that, it’s time to let go of your fears and face uncertainty. Change is a part of life and often times we miss out on great experiences because we become stuck in our own ways.
You find yourself settling
Now this a big one for us twenty-somethings, as we see this way too often and again it comes down to the fear of change. Whether it be your job, relationships, education, health, etc. Fear often leads us to settle for where we currently are and what we currently have because we are afraid to venture out to the unknown.
Don’t be afraid. We are only given one life and you never know what can happen in the next minute, let alone the next 10 years. Take charge of your fears and most importantly your life.
– MM
