Daily Gratitude: “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.”

This sounds so easy doesn’t it? But we all know it’s not easy. It may be simple but that doesn’t make it easy.

I’m working on facing my fears and I have to do small tasks still. But I’ve also learned that if I force myself to write about the experience after (and maybe even before I make the attempt), the positive results become more cemented in my mind.

I’ve told you before about my fear of the telephone. I probably called it an aversion or a dislike but what do they say “a rose by any other name”… it’s fear.

It’s stupid. It’s a small thing and yet it’s there. Calling it names or trying to make it seem less (like saying it’s stupid) will not shame me into making the damn call. That just makes things worse. I’m sure you parents and teachers can verify that. It just is.

The strange and actually humorous thing is that I feel so good and so free once I’ve gotten around to doing it and getting it over with. What doesn’t work in the moment is to spend time trying to figure out why it doesn’t work. Ha ha. That’s called procrastination.

But If I write about it and put my feelings down on paper – both the fear and the elation – it helps me express more of what went on inside. And even if I still don’t understand it, the success and the associated feelings of that tiny little success stick with me longer and make facing that phone call easier the next time.

Never diminish your fears. Never try to bully yourself into feeling less than because you have the fears. Just deal with them the best you can and record your success AND the associated feelings once you’ve done something that was hard because it involved a fear.