Does crippling fear stop you in your tracks? The key to moving forward when nothing else works

Website design By BotEap.comI was browsing a friend’s Facebook page when I came across an article titled “How to Never Let Fear Hold You Back Again.” Although I had come across similar titles while searching on Google, I decided to see if the writer had anything fresh and new to share.

Website design By BotEap.comI read the article. It was fine if on a scale of 1 to 10, your fear was around a 5. But if it was a 10, with 10 being overwhelmingly paralyzing, the article fell short.

Website design By BotEap.comBecause of this, I endeavored to dig a little deeper. I started with the word FEAR. I almost went straight to Google to find some clever acronym I could play around with, but what came out of me was more to the point. It was Focus mehighly strung. HASt. REduardo.

Website design By BotEap.comYou see, I had read the book, Feel the fear and do it anyway (the 2002 version) by Susan Jeffers years ago. And while it gave me the nerve to go against the grain of my Adult Child of An Alcoholic programming, it didn’t address what confronted me later. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Virginia.

Website design By BotEap.comNow, for those of you who have never had the pleasure of crossing this bridge, let me describe my encounter. I was driving happily, with my mother in the front seat and my teenage son in the back seat. We were traveling to Virginia to spend Christmas Day with my nephew and his wife. We laughed and talked as we flowed with the traffic up the slope of the bridge. And then, without warning, there was a sharp drop, so sharp that it seemed like we were in a tailspin. It looked like we were going to drop right into the ominous water below. I was terrified!

Website design By BotEap.comI’m happy to report that I made it through without having a heart attack, dirtying my clothes, or having a full blown panic attack. Still, the thought of having to drive back across that bridge to get home was a torment. So even though the article had some great ideas for overcoming fear, i.e. feel the fear and do it anyway and change your personal philosophy on failure, the author makes two points in his article, when confronted with the bridges of Chesapeake Bay Life: Relationships and Business, you need a little more to chew on.

Website design By BotEap.comThat’s when I looked into my experience and pulled out this key. If the reward in front of you isn’t compelling enough to override the fear, you can’t move on. One has to find that thing, that primal thingthat has enough torque to propel you, enough magnetism to attract you, and enough glue to hold you.