Fear is like a leash. We should be able to walk 1000 meters. But because our leash is only 100 meters, we can only walk up to 100 meters. Whereas HE has never limited it. We are free to walk even tens of thousands of meters. He is still with us. Then why do we limit ourselves when HE doesn't give us limits?
Fear is a real limitation in this life. To be honest, we are often scared, or rather our whole life has been successful in being scared. Look at our lives, isn't there fear in every layer? I am very happy if you answer no. But most of us would say yes.
Back when we were born, our parents were very scared if we didn't grow up to be normal. With their love, they would nurture and raise us, just so that we fit into the normal values. We are put into school, go to college, work, get married and live as adults by holding on to these normal values.
Eventually we become afraid if we do not conform to the normal values. Being abnormal in front of people is a hidden fear that haunts our lives without us even realizing it exists.
It is very human and very difficult to admit this as a fear, because it has become a normal part of the norm. We can admit to ourselves that we fear darkness, solitude, destitution and other fears. But it is difficult for us to honestly admit that we are afraid of living a life that is not normal in the eyes of others. Yet that fear is real!
We are afraid of not working, because we don't want to be called unemployed. We are afraid of not going to school, because we don't want to be called uneducated (stupid). We are afraid of not being religious, because we don't want to be called godless. We are afraid of poverty, because we don't want to be called poor. We are afraid of not getting married, because we don't want to be called a bachelor. We are afraid of not having children, because we don't want to be called barren.
Life is a choice, we can freely include any fear in this life. But are we going to do it? Are we going to let fear take over our lives? Do we have to bury our dreams of being different, just for fear of other people's judgment?
Take for example the inventor of the airplane, he must have started with a dream to be able to fly. At the time, people thought he was unreasonable, or even crazy. But, was the inventor of the airplane affected by the judgment of others? Was he afraid of other people's judgment? If so, we wouldn't be seeing airplanes flying in the sky.
Remember one thing! Whatever it is, your dream should be scary, and let it always be that way. If it's not scary, then it's not called a dream. Let it be scary, but never allow yourself to be the least bit afraid of realizing it.
Fear is the source of disaster, and the thing we fear the most is realizing our own dreams. How often we dream of something while continuing to be afraid of the way it will manifest as well.
We often haunt ourselves with things that haven't even materialized yet. We often echo words that dwarf our own dreams. We often turn into fortune tellers, predicting the failure of our own dreams. We do this even when we haven't taken any action to make our dreams come true, other than the act of generating fear.
When we deliberately allow fear to arise, we have automatically summoned its friends; namely doubt, discomfort, unhappiness. Then unconsciously every step of our fear is to face the friends of fear too.
When we are afraid of our dreams, there will be hesitation in making them real. This makes every action we take uncomfortable. The more uncomfortable, the closer we get to unhappiness. It's like playing a song by activating the re-play button, it will automatically repeat itself until we deactivate the re-play button.
Let's give a simple example like this; a husband and wife have lived together for 12 years and have been blessed with 3 children. Two are in elementary school and one is a toddler. Like any normal husband, the husband also works in an office. Despite not working in an office, the wife is able to earn 2 x her husband's income through a business she runs from home. The wife then persuaded her husband to stop working in the office and just focus with her on doing business at home. But the wife did not succeed. Her husband refused because he was afraid of uncertainty. According to her husband, business cannot produce certainty. Time passed as it was. It has now been three years since the wife first persuaded her husband. However, the husband continues to work in an office. Even though the wife's income is now 6 x her husband's income, which is still the same.
The question: Does fear change anything in life? IT DOESN'T. Instead, fear makes us take a step back from where our lives should be. Try to study the example above. Only by capitalizing on herself, the wife can multiply her income to 3 x her initial income within three years. What if the husband also focused with his wife to build this business. Maybe they can make 12 times the salary of her husband. But this won't happen, why?
Because the husband is afraid and he has successfully allowed himself to live in that fear. He chose to let that fear rule him and live in it. Because of his fear, he let doubt, insecurity and unhappiness come into his life too.
Then how can we get rid of the fear of facing our dreams? BE OPTIMISTIC! That's the answer. Optimism is when we realize that we are not alone in facing all our dreams. We are not alone in facing positive or negative realities. We are not alone in running the dynamics of this life. There is always HIM who is with us.
Optimism is a form of our trust in HIM, that HE has arranged everything. But HE did not choose the fear that we deliberately arose. So turn fear into optimism, and with HIM you will be able to realize that dream.