Do It Afraid

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt

I have a confession to make. Some of you may be very surprise, others not so much. However, I have to come clean. Almost everything I do, I am scared to death. That’s right, it is very easy for me to let fear run my life. Most of my fear comes from caring too much about what people think.

Every time I write and publish a blog post I am scared people will think I’m just trying to promote myself. Every time I preach or teach, I’m afraid that I did a horrible job and people will think I wasted their time. Every job I have, I am afraid I’m not doing enough or doing well enough. I fear inadequacy. I fear failure. I fear rejection.

Photo Credit: MoneySavingQueen

Have you been there? Have you let fear keep you from dreaming? Keep you from doing what you believe you’re called to do? I know I have.

There are two things I have found that help me overcome my fears:

1.) Trusting and Believing God – Psalm 34:4 changed my life a few years ago. “I prayed, the Lord heard me, and He freed me from ALL my fears. Anytime I am afraid, ultimately it’s because I’m dwelling on the thing I fear instead of dwelling on God. The more I dwell on God, the less I fear.

2.) Overcoming fear with action – Doing it afraid. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t struggle with fear. I’ve never met anyone who is successful that isn’t afraid of making the wrong decision, being rejected, etc. However, the people that overcome fear, are people who push through it with action.

I don’t know what you are afraid of right now in your life, but whatever it is, realize that you are not alone. There are people all over the planet that experience the same feelings that you do. The question is, what are you going to do when you’re afraid? For me, I only see one option: Doing it afraid.

Stop letting fear dominate your life. Stop letting fear hold you back from your dreams. Stop letting fear hold you back from God’s best for your life! Just go for it! Stop worrying about what people think (I’m preaching to myself!) Dr. Seuss said, “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” It’s not scripture, but there is a lot of truth in that statement.

What action can you take today to overcome your fears? Maybe you need to publish a blog, preach a sermon, write a book, go after your dream job, you name it. Whatever that is, do it now and do it afraid!

The more you act, the less you’ll fear.

Do it afraid.

Thoughts?

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