The Comfortable Uncomfortable – Overcoming Your Fears

All of us have some kind of fear built in.

Some fear is silly or unfounded, while other fear is necessary for survival. At one time I was afraid of being in high places. Now I can not get enough of them. Why, you might ask? Because I exposed myself to heights enough that they were no longer a big deal. It took some time, but over time I challenged myself to get closer to the edge of a cliff and look down. In all fairness, I still will not dangle my legs off the sides, but I still have something to push myself towards.

Another fear I used to have was going to other countries, especially ones where they don’t speak a language anywhere near English. Unfortunately it wasn’t until I was 38 that I stepped foot outside of the United States and headed to about as different as you can get, Japan. The trip was amazing and I now want to travel everywhere. Because I know have the travel bug, and so does my wife, we plan to quit our jobs and travel the world in 2019! See our countdown and our latest adventures at BIGtinyWorld.com.

The Ocean has always amazed me, but my fear of drowning kept me from snorkeling for so many years. This one took longer to overcome but on my last trip to Hawaii, after going snorkeling enough times, I have become less afraid of it. I still have more work to do, but know if I keep at it, I will no longer have any problems.

We all fear the unknown, so the best cure for this fear is DOING the unknown. Do whatever scares you. Push yourself to overcome it so you do not wait forty years or miss out entirely, on the many wonderful opportunities you might have in life. You only live once. So take the plunge and do it!

The hardest fear I had to overcome was irrational fear. Things like worrying about North Korea, the next big earthquake, or some other thing that could kill me, but is 99.999% not likely to. Overcoming this is all about mindset. I could just as easily die from a car accident or from worrying too much and having a heart attack. There are better things to focus time and energy on. Since you could die at any time from any number of things, focus on living instead. Live for the moment, enjoy every minute, and don’t worry about things you cannot control.