Fear - Run or Rise?

As humans we are hard-wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain.  When scary things happen, our tendency is to run away.  Or in other words, we avoid what we perceive to be potentially painful.  Now, running away isn't a bad thing.  There are plenty of times when running away has been the best option for me...seeing a big spider on an outdoor trail, a ball flying right towards me, a big swarm of misquotes, etc. 

On the flip side though, I can think of a several times in my life when running away didn't produce great of results.  Generally, this involved "running" away from painful experiences.  For example, ignoring what someone was doing or saying rather than have what I perceived to be a scary conversation.  This only led to hurt feelings and complicated relationship issues. 
 
I ran across this definition of fear: "F.E.A.R. has two meanings: Forget Everything And Run or Face Everything And Rise.  The choice is yours."  I love this!  It's when we face our fears, when we lean into them that we find freedom on the other side.  We rise above them and get to see life from a new perspective.

Right now, there are a lot of things going on in the world that are scary and unknown.  Fear in these situations is normal.  I know that many of you are dealing with some really hard situations and my heart goes out to you.  I am not minimizing the challenges of life in anyway.  I am simply offering the option that fear doesn't need to immobilize us.  I like the analogy of linking arms with our fears and moving forward rather than running from them.  Fear is part of life.  It will always be there.  And the choice is always ours to determine if fear will stand in our way or be a stepping stone to take us to a new place of growth and understanding.

As a teenager I enjoyed the Indian Jones movies.  There is a great scene in one of the movies where Harrison Ford must step off a cliff into a huge vast of nothingness in order to save his dying father (see clip below).  As you watch the clip, pay attention to Ford's body language.  

                                                                                 Leap of Faith movie clip

Can you relate to what Ford experienced?  Did you see the fear reflected in his body language?  Like Ford experienced, stepping into the unknown, leaning into our fears is scary.  There is no initial guarantee the path or way forward will appear.  And, yet my friends, I have seen time and time again that when we lean into our fears, process, and embrace them, there truly is freedom on the other side...freedom to move forward.  Fear only has the power we give it.  It's when we run from our fears that we stay stuck.  Once we embrace our fears, they no longer have a hold on us.  We are free to move forward on life's path.  And that, is true freedom.

As always, cheering you on!
​Dream Body Coach Lorie