Release the Fear

                There’s so much that can be said about Fear and there are thousands of scientific articles written about it. At its most basic level Fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger. Physiologically, it’s crucial to our physical well-being and without it, we would set ourselves up for all types of dangerous situations and real threats. However, sometimes the scenarios we imagine become irrational fears, those that are not likely to happen and cause unnecessary worry, stress and bad decision-making.

                A definition that I often use when discussing FEAR is that it is False Evidence Appearing Real. I first heard this years ago and think it adequately describes Irrational FEAR, the type of self-limiting beliefs we feed ourselves everyday that are counter-productive to positive action and an optimistic outlook on life.

                    Many types of Fear have a basis in past negative experiences we have been through. Example: If situation X was really bad the 1st time we experienced it, we make the correlation that experiencing situation X will produce the same result next time. I encounter this with my patients quite often. I’m amazed at how calm kids are when I have to give them injections for things such as removing a foreign body from their foot or administering local anesthesia to remove an ingrown nail, while adults are usually the ones who take much more convincing because they’ve often had previous negative experiences that have translated into Fear moving forward.

                Fear holds us back. It causes anxiety. Fear wastes our valuable time. Fear is stressful. Most of the things we have irrational fears about never actually happen!

Here are some steps to help you overcome irrational fears:

❐ Identify It – This involves figuring out WHY you have the fear in the first place? Was it a previous experience? Does it stem from something you heard or saw happen to someone else? What triggers your fear?

❐ Name It – Naming your fear removes its power! Write the fear down and eliminate the confusion surrounding the exact fear. Many times simply admitting out loud that a fear is irrational allows you to acknowledge it as such…irrational.

❐ Rewrite the Story using faith in the positive, instead of fear, as your fuel – The possible negative outcomes to any given situation are usually what drive fear. So, instead of imagining the negative outcomes, re-write the story using possible positive outcomes. Every time the idea of a negative outcome pops into your head, counter-balance that with a positive affirmation instead. Refuse to allow the negative energy to manifest in your psyche….it’s too large an emotional burden to bear!

❐ Fight Fear Consistently by addressing it head on – Immersion therapy is a method commonly used to help people overcome irrational fears. This involves placing people in the exact scenarios that scare them so they can experience the fact that the irrational fear actually never manifests. Another way to address this is to take any given situation and say, ” Yes, Negative Result “X” May happen, but Positive Result “Y” is also an option.

❐ Attract Positive Situations into in your life and leadership roles by putting positive energy into all you do – If you believe in the law of attraction, this makes complete sense to you. It essentially mean this–> If you are constantly fearful, doubtful and have a glass half-empty mentality, negative energy is what will return to you. Moreover, if you live and lead with confidence and a positive, glass half-full outlook, positive energy is what will return to you. The impact of many of the situations you encounter on a daily basis boils down, in large part, to the outlook you have on them! (Tweet this)

          Dr. Carmen April is a young entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter.  She’s a Podiatrist and Owner of The Foot And Ankle Healthcare Center in the Nashville, TN area. She’s also the creator/owner of “Design Your Story Coaching & Consulting” and is available for speaking engagements on Small Business Entrepreneurship.

An Untrained Mind Can Accomplish Little

              Athletes train to accomplish an athletic goal. Doctors train to practice medicine. Teachers train to educate students.  Chefs train and learn how to create culinary masterpieces.

             Just as these tasks require training to perfect, our minds must be trained to think thoughts that ultimately reveal themselves in our outward actions, appearance, and interaction with others. As I’ve shared here on the blog before, the mind is an extremely powerful medium and what we think, we become (Tweet this).

What we think, we become.

          The chatter box runs rampant in the minds of most of us. All it takes is one negative thought to lead to another negative thought which leads to the “what if’s” and fear and worry and resentment and negativity.

Remember, an untrained mind can accomplish little!

“An untrained mind can accomplish Little”

               As a creative person and entrepreneur, the wheels are always spinning in my mind and when I’m not careful, fear of  ‘what’s next” easily creeps in and makes me nervous about the future. I’ve had to make a conscious decision to start silencing the chatterbox by meditating and centering myself daily. This is not easy, by any means. The first few minutes of my meditation usually involves me having to bring my thoughts back to center because concentration is not easy. No matter how many times my thoughts wander off into a different direction, I work hard to bring them back to center by repeating whatever mantra I choose to meditate on that day.

             I do my best to focus on the present because I can’t change the past and I have no idea what the future holds. In fact, worrying about tomorrow steals today of its sunshine! What I have to focus on is the “right now” and training my mind to release the fear.

          As leaders, mastering the practice of controlling your thoughts is so important because what you do comes from what you think (Tweet this)! Leaders are not born, they are made and they are made better by perfecting effective principles of Leadership such as unwavering courage, having the ability to establish and carry out a vision, paying attention to detail, and having strong decision-making skills. Many times, the best way to make important leadership decisions is by silencing the mind, removing the “ego-filter” and making decisions that will impact an entire team(s).

“What you do comes from what you think!”

-Dr. April

             Dr. Carmen April is a young entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter.  She’s a Podiatrist and Owner of The Foot And Ankle Healthcare Center in the Nashville, TN area. She’s also the creator/owner of “Design Your Story Coaching & Consulting” and is available for speaking engagements on Small Business Entrepreneurship.