Living in fear can be seriously detrimental to you. I am not just talking about opportunities you will miss because of your fear. I mean when you live with a fear mindset it will eat away at your sense of self-worth. It will erode your ability to believe in your own value as a person.
Psychologists and counselors have long been intrigued by the connection between low self-esteem and fear. In numerous studies, they discovered people with many reasons to have a high sense of self-worth, but they don’t. They are accomplished in many ways, were raised in nurturing, healthy families, are very gifted, quite attractive and well-liked, but they struggle with their own sense of worth. These people get lots of praise and attention. They elicit positive feedback from people. They appear to be successful in most everything they do, and, yet all of that doesn’t seem to change their inner lack of self-esteem. Why would that be?
The most recent studies discovered that one component to low feelings of self-worth is that when people faced a difficult or fear producing situation they did not take action and face it head on, but rather avoided it. Here’s what they found — When people take action, even though things don’t turn out perfectly, they get this surge of delight. They think to themselves, “I did a hard thing. I took on something that was challenging. I faced a fear head on.” When you do that you grow. You get this sense of strength inside. When you do not face your fear, you shrink a little bit on the inside.
What fear do you need to face today? Is there a person you need to stand up to? Is there a challenge you need to face? Is there a job you need to apply for? Is there a phone call you need to make? Big living is learning how to stand up to your fear. It’s not easy but it’s necessary if you want your interior life to be healthy and strong.
