When fear doesn’t really look like fear

It is so important for us to take some time and reflect on the emotions we are feeling. Oftentimes the emotions we express are a disguise for a deeper, more difficult to admit feeling we have. It can be challenging at best to be vulnerable enough to look deep for clarity, much less express our perspectives.

I believe that is why we are encountering so much negativity today. Fear is being expressed in many unhealthy ways. Fear is expressed as anger, intolerance, and unacceptance. It has become easier to blame someone else for our emotions than to get to the bottom of them.

It is important to acknowledge when we are in fear.

Being honest with ourselves is empowering. When we own our fears instead of projecting them onto others that feel differently than we do, we show vulnerability and strength. We show up for ourselves and cause a ripple of kindness and understanding rather than blaming and finger-pointing.

The first thing that happens when I’m in fear is that I feel like someone punched me in the gut. It’s a gripping feeling that quickly spreads. My heart starts beating faster and my mind races. I make up stories in my head of the ‘worst-case scenario’. Those triggers remind me to take a moment to look deeper and ask myself what’s really happening here. That keeps me from projecting my fears onto someone else in the form of anger.

It’s okay to have fears; we all do.

However, staying stuck in fear can take us over. It can cause us to be angry and to isolate ourselves from anyone who doesn’t agree with us. We can end up giving so much of our power to fear that we have little power to make changes in ourselves that could ripple out and change the world.

Isn’t that what we want, to live in a world where we are free to be ourselves?

We are the only ones that can give ourselves permission to be our authentic selves.

Being vulnerable enough to dig deep and explore what’s hiding under our surface emotions is a way to gain clarity on where we might want to make some changes. Many of those changes come in how we perceive things and we always have a choice.

Choice is where our real power is. When we choose to acknowledge what our fears are, we resolve feelings we might have to blame others. Maybe we realize that others are reacting out of their own fears. That can bring us understanding and empathy.

What do you think?

What do you want to put out into the world?

When we change the world changes.