FEAR: The greatest enemy of man.

Emmanuel-Adeosun Blog Post: Fear

Fear, our greatest enemy.

Fear has made many become failures,

Fear has killed many men,

Fear has made men live lives full of misery, regret and despair.

What is fear?

Fear is nothing more than a state of mind.

Fear does not exist in reality, it only exists in our mind; it is created by man and can be defeated by man. It is our dark imagination about “life events” that creates fear in our mind. Little wonder one of the greatest philosophers, Epictetus said;

“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems”. He went further to say “we are not disturbed by what happens to us but by our thoughts about what happens to us.”

Fear is known to be the number one killer of dreams. Take a look at some of the world’s successful men(both financial success, pastoral success, successful marriages etc) they are successful not because they don’t have fears but they chose to fight their fears and move forward. Each time a negative thought brings fear to mind, they consciously start thinking more about the positive side of whatever task they’re about to embark on and that’s what pushes them to move forward, despite the fear.

For this reason, the great Taoist, Lao Tzu said;

“If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve”.

That is to say, if you’re willing to fight despite your fears, you are more than courageous and well equipped to take up any task in life.

Fear originates from the kind of thoughts we have about “things”.

Many of us desire to be someone great in life, we desire to have a beautiful relationship, we desire to start a business, etc. but each time we take a step towards our dreams, we start having negative thoughts like “what if something bad happens along the line, what if it doesn’t work, what if I fail, what if I lose or what if I get turned down?”

These thoughts are of fear and nothing else. We have not even tried doing the task yet our minds are clouded with negative thoughts and outcomes that do not even exist in reality except in our minds.

This confirms philosopher Seneca’s quote

Seneca said;

“it is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.”

In other words, Fear holds us back from daring to live our dreams and thereby creating excuses like it’s too hard/difficult.

The best way to fight your fears is to take action, go ahead to do that thing that you’re most afraid of and secondly, guide your mind against negative thoughts. So, instead of the negative “what if” questions, focus on positive thoughts like “What if I win, What if I succeed?”

For this reason Lao Tzu said;

Watch your thoughts, they become your words.

Watch your words, they become your actions.

Watch your actions, they become your habits.

Watch your habits, they become your character.

Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

Fear is a mental disease. Thoughts of fear can paralyze you therefore, fight your fears and move into greatness.

The ball is now in your court!

Will you fight your fears and become the person you want to be OR will you let your fears hold you back, and be forced to live with regret at old age saying “I wish I knew, I would have at-least tried”?

I’ll end now and let you ponder on this quote by Epictetus the great Stoic;

“It is better to die of hunger having lived WITHOUT grief and fear than to live with a troubled spirit, amid abundance”.

Written by- Emmanuel Adeosun