When diving deep with one of my spiritual coaches, I uncovered a lot about how my fears as a child continue to pop up in my life as an adult.
As I sat with this and worked through the fears in the weeks and months after that session, I was faced with a lot of discomfort. I finally admitted that I experienced anxiety (like most people do!), I felt the feelings below the surface of my fears, and challenged myself to tap into safety amidst the discomfort.
I had always heard from countless self development teachers, books, and programs that we must choose love over fear and intend to be fearless. While I totally agree with this, it’s not the entire story.
What I have come to understand - and now teach to all of my clients - is this:
Fear is a good thing.
Yep, that’s right! Read it again. Fear is a GOOD thing.
In order to move through fears and actually choose love (and believe it), we must feel the feelings that fear brings up. This means admitting and acknowledging that the fear is there, honoring whatever the fear brings up, and having gratitude for the fear before releasing it.
Now you may be wondering what the heck we have to be grateful for when it comes to fear...well, actually a lot! Keep reading to understand the good in fear and how you can use it productively in your healing journey.
Fear is simply protection. Fear is our brain’s way of trying to protect us from danger (whether the threat is real or imagined), pain (both physical and emotional), disappointment (from ourselves or others), and all the other lower vibrations that aren’t super fun to experience. When you see fear as protection, you can start saying THANK YOU to the fears! Although the protection might not actually be needed because you’re perfectly safe and secure, saying thank you to the fear anyway is a powerful tool for expressing gratitude before moving forward and into love. If we didn’t have fear, then we might put ourselves into *actually* risky/dangerous/harmful situations. Say thank you for the protection, and move on to the next step.
It shines a light on areas for growth. If you were 100% perfect, comfortable, evolved, and living your best life, then there wouldn’t be much left for you to learn on Earth. Fear is necessary to show us where we can grow more, push comfort zones, and continue to expand. When you try new things, it might feel scary! When you have tough conversations, it might feel scary! When you implement new habits, it might feel scary! When you make an investment in yourself, it might be scary! Have gratitude for the fear as an indicator that you are indeed growing, expanding, and breaking out of your comfort zone. This is what you’re here on Earth to do.
Fear pushes you to expand. If you never felt a bit of anxiety or fear as you lept into a new adventure, experience, relationship, job, etc, then it likely wouldn’t be pushing you to grow and expand. Comfort is wonderful and necessary, but if you’re comfortable 100% of the time, then you might be missing out on new opportunities to grow and reach new heights. Embrace the growing pains that fear sometimes presents and lean into the discomfort that comes with pushing your edge. It’s a sign that you’re about to break through to a new level!
As you can see, fear isn’t all bad! While you don’t want to let fear run the show or take over your life, it’s important to honor fear for what it is and have gratitude for the ways in which it can serve you. When you use fear in a productive way, you’ll be able to grow, heal, and realign with love faster.
If your fears typically come up around controlling your food, weight, or body, then I have a perfect add-on resource for you: 5 Steps to Stop Obsessively Thinking About Food. Download it now and start practicing more gratitude for the whole range of feelings that you’re able to experience here in this lifetime.