The Story Of Overcoming My Fear

So here’s how I overcame my fear…

Not my fear of heights, not my fear of demonic horror film children, but the fear of day to day life.

My story starts as a young boy. Always anxious, always afraid of the ‘what if’s’.

So much so that I missed out on so many opportunities that I might not get again.

I was so anxious every second of the day even before I knew what ‘anxiety’ was or that the feeling even had a name.

I remember thinking to myself ‘I’ll always feel this way’, afraid and feeling lonely. It seemed impossible to me that I could ever change, mainly because anxious thoughts were all I had ever known.

I became so fearful through school, college and eventually at work. Always feeling down about myself and unconfident.

One day I’d had enough.

I didn’t know how I’d change the way I was but I knew there must be a way. Anyone can change right?

My ultimate fear was living a life of anxiety and depression.

The Fear Was Motivation Enough

I knew that I didn’t want to live the rest of my life the way I had been and so that fear motivated me to change.

Instead of letting it cripple me, I harnessed it to swing my mind back around and into a productive state.

Here’s how I saw it. There were these two options;

Be depressed forever

Or

Use the fear

The compounding effect of nearly 20 years of anxiety on my brain reached a critical mass where I didn’t care about feeling stupid or exposed anymore.

I was going to overcome my fear one way or the other. I was determined.

You see, I think everyone needs to reach what I call a ‘critical mass’ where the way you feel goes beyond depressed and into ridiculousness. When you reach that point like I did, it becomes a joke that you’ve lived that way for so long.

Not a ‘haha’ joke but more a ‘Do I seriously wanna live that way forever?’ kind of joke.

When you can step back and look at yourself you can start to get a bit of perspective on things.

I overcame my fear of a life of anxiety by doubling down on productive activities. It was only when I took the ‘risk’ to do what I truely wanted that I felt mentally free.

I started to learn that most people are afraid of being judged by others and so they never really try for what they really want.

We Get Suppressed Everyday

I realised when I stepped back to look at my life, I had become side-tracked. I was living on autopilot ignoring what my mind craved.

It craved the soul food that it needed to fill its belly.

This meant making time for what I was passionate about.

Not going to bed late, waking early, going to work, watching TV all evening and repeating the cycle.

You have to say enough is enough.

A mundane cycle of life is enough to give anyone an anxiety disorder.

Yes, we have responsibilities however when I remembered back to my childhood self, I didn’t have the same levels of fear that I ended up having in my early teens.

I’d forgotten how to play.

So that was it. I was going to carve out the life I wanted because I knew that no-one could change my life but me. Not my mum, not my dad, not my boss.

Only you can do that. But you have to want it.

And why wouldn’t you? Why wouldn’t you want a fulfilled life? Surely that’s what it’s all about?

I wasn’t going to let my passions in life be suppressed and not be a priority anymore. The things that made me come alive and simply ‘feel’ needed air time of their own if I was going to find meaning in my life.

Here’s what I did;

I listened to my heart and;

Embraced the fear of an anxious life to use it to motivate me

Starting blogging

Started to appreciate the small things

Started drawing again

Started practising mindfulness

Started to educate myself in what I’d always wanted to learn about

There’s so much more to it though, join me here to learn more about my journey from anxious to recovered.

When I started to make time for myself and stopped pushing down on what my mind craved, I found meaning and became more fulfilled in my life.

I also set goals. I started to understand that setting goals and milestones was something powerful in the battle against anxiety and fear.

It gives you something to aim for, something in the future to get excited about but also gives you a long term feeling of productivity.

It All Starts From Within

The journey from fearful to productive started from within me. It started by making a decision by saying ‘enough to this.’

I hope you found this useful. If you did, I’d love it if you left a comment and clapped!

Here’s to your success — Sean

I teach about overcoming anxiety over at: http://projectenergise.com/