The month of October is always filled with activities that remind us of cooler weather and fall. Most of us associate the month with Halloween and the idea of being fearful of spooky objects like ghosts, vampires, and spiders. What if we took a moment to think about the concept of fear and how we apply it to our daily lives. One of our own therapists recently blogged on fear so we felt it was the perfect time to share with all of you.
Fear of being afraid.
Fear of failure.
Fear of rejection.
Fear of vulnerability.
Fear may possibly be the most paralyzing concept in our world today. It keeps us from being happy, from being who we were made to be, and from putting ourselves out there for the world to see.
When I was growing up, failure, rejection, and vulnerability were looked upon as a negative…Things to avoid. Failure was unacceptable, rejection was the worst thing that could happen to you, and vulnerability was just a fancy word for weakness.
The truth is… if we never put ourselves out there, we WON’T get hurt. If we play it safe, we will NEVER fail. If we don’t get on the field, we will never experience the agony of DEFEAT. BUT…think of all that we are missing if we chose to sit on the sidelines.
The missed opportunities to grow and learn.
To be a part of something bigger than ourselves.
To experience victory and success.
If we hide from fear and stay on the sidelines where it’s safe, we will never experience the richness of life.
I believe life cannot be truly lived if we are always in hiding. I should know. I hid in fear for a long time. Just going through the motions day in and day out…Not talking too loud for fear that someone would call me out; Never criticizing what I thought was wrong in fear that I would be exposed for all of my defects; Never expressing my opinion or trying anything new unless I was 100% positive it was going to benefit me. I was scared and selfish. I was miserable.
Lucky for me God has a way of getting our attention. Thanks to a series of events in my life, my perspective has been shifted in a positive direction. Today I see people as children of God; the same God I turn to for strength. I try not to judge so freely and I don’t see everyone as an enemy. I have surrendered all of that to a loving God and turned my will over to him. If you would have told me a year ago I’d be sitting here writing a blog about my life and trying to help others I would have never believed it. This is one of the main reasons why I am writing this today. I want to give back what was given to me. A sense of freedom and love I never knew existed because I was busy sitting on the sidelines.
What are you afraid of?
Are you afraid of looking for a new job? Recovery from a surgery? Or are you afraid of sitting on the sidelines.
Learn more about our outpatient services and career opportunities by visiting our website.
Article written by Josh Fredieu, PTA
Josh Fredieu is a Physical Therapy Assistant for the Therapy Center. He is certified in applied functional science by the Gray Institute. Josh has been practicing for 5 years in a variety of settings. In his spare time, he enjoys blogging about healthy living habits.
