Don't Give In To Your Fears

It is a part of everyday life; it will frustrate us, it will test us, and it will push us to our limits. I'm talking about 'challenges.' We try to avoid them but they always seem to creep up on us, especially during our toughest times. We will be forced to face them from time to time, varying in intensity and seriousness, but in one way or another we must deal with them.

We can choose to either give in to it, or we can face it head on. Sometimes this decision does not come so easily to us. There can be many reasons why we would be deterred from taking on a challenge. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, and self-doubt are a few that comes to mind. We can talk ourselves out of even attempting to push pass the issue out of uncertainty and our lack of self-confidence. It all comes down to our mindset and how much we want the end goal. It is our passion or lack there of that will drive us in either direction. 

If we are not passionate towards accomplishing the challenge or do not value the rewards that we would receive from it, we will lack motivation. In our minds there would be no point in putting the time and effort into a task that means little or nothing to us. On the other hand, if the passion and drive is present, this is the time where we must push pass the mental barriers that we put in place for ourselves, and we need to ensure that we do not give in to our fears. This lesson, I learned on my mat. 

As I was growing up I was very timid, had little confidence in myself, and I was extremely nervous and embarrassed to fail. I often found myself backing down from any situation that I was unsure of the outcome. It was through my yoga practice that I was able to turn this around. The amazing thing that I learned from yoga is that it provides you with real life challenges on thecomfort of your mat. We are faced with difficult times in our practice, whether it being a particular posture, an adjustment, your energy level, your emotions etc. We are tested, and we are challenged. Do we give in? Or do we persevere? Some days we may do great and somedays not. But we are given that opportunity to push pass, to fail, to know our fears, our weakness, and our strengths. We get comfortable being uncomfortable, we get comfortable failing, and we get comfortable having to push pass our self-imposed limits. We get to gain a wider perspective of ourselves. We are given this safe and nonjudgmental platform to experience all of this so we can take it into our everyday lives.

I have learned not to give into my fears and uncertainties. Do they give me pause sometimes? Yes. Do they make me doubt myself sometimes? Yes. I'd be lying if I said I don't have those thoughts at times. But now that I am more aware and I can see a bigger picture. I no longer am fearful to try or to fail. I try to the best of my abilities and I follow my dreams and passions.