Fears and the Fear of Overcoming Fear

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

I'm a man with many fears. Admitting it is nothing to be afraid of because I tie up no pride in myself to the point of trying to play myself off as perfect. It's an ordinary thing to be afraid because the human body has its own built in flaws and weaknesses and is vulnerable to several kinds of injury. So is also, the human psyche.

A lot of fear exists in our minds, but it is no less real. How others perceive us is almost more important to us than how we perceive ourselves. Acting on that fear might drive someone to try harder to gain the approval of others and modify oneself to extraordinary efforts to conform to the group mentality.

That manner of behavior isn't facing fear, instead it is the act of surrendering to fear. Such a person may well one day come to the conclusion that while they have been so busy doing so much for others that they don't even know their self very well at all. Loss of identity by not trying to define one in the first place and going with the flow like a dead fish.

That example wasn't meant to be as long as it turned out to be, but it must have needed to be said. Otherwise, it would not have come out of my mind. So, therefore I think and therefore it is. 

My personal fears could be along those lines with the sense of stage fright that I have. Getting up and speaking in front of crowds and being the center of attention has never been easy for me. However, when I began to write my books with the full intent of publishing them I came to a realization.

I realized that the fame and attention that I had shunned for all of my life before was now something I would have to reach out for. I am a brand and my stories are my product. My face has to be behind what I am trying to sell, otherwise it won't be worth buying. My fear was trying to draw attention to myself and I consider myself a very meek person. 

I don't allow my fear to rule me, nor have I surrendered to it. I wouldn't say that I have conquered my fear, but I would say that I have defied it. With my website, my efforts to raise my brand awareness, and submitting query letters to publishers and literary agents I am now in a position where I am seen and judged for who I am. 

As a Christian, I strive to remain humble and a good example of how I believe a person who accepts that label should act. While retaining my own sense of individuality. Being humble is something I do for myself because I don't want to raise high expectations. I don't want to be disappointed by big dreams and suffer from feeling unable to measure up. Aside from that, I am not a greedy person. Just making a living would be enough for me. 

Another fear I think people have is to be deprived. To have to do without something. Not having enough, or ever having enough. That might be a fear I have conquered because I have had less than I have now and I survived well. I'm grateful for my blessings and I want to work hard to keep them. 

At the same time, I also want to reach people with the written word. Beyond my image or anything else, I want people to hear my ideas and come up with some of their own. I want my thoughts to provoke thoughts and the things I have to say I want them to inspire friendship and kinship with each other. Instead of fighting to compete with each other, I would like for us all to have a common goal to bring our different talents and resources together to overcome a challenge.

Maybe we won't conquer the fear of the worlds problems, but we can do a lot to defy that fear. Wouldn't that be something?