Fear of being boring.
Fear of not being good enough.
Fear of being judged.
Fear of getting stuck.

And the list goes on. I have so many fears. Mostly irrational and probably won’t make sense to others. Yet they make sense to me.

What I have learnt though is, life is too short to live in fear. It is not worthwhile to get stuck in your fear. Keep looking and moving forward. Create a great life for yourself by pushing past your fears and not letting it win.

Shielding and protecting yourself from pain, from the unknown, gets you nowhere.

I have so many fears yet I push myself beyond them. I must. I want to experience life. Are you the same? Or do you let fear win?

Steps to not let fear diminish your potential:

• Feel into the panic. Recognize what it is that is causing the butterflies, the yucky feelings, the twitching or the shaking. Make a list. Journal about it. Realise how it is affecting your life. Make a plan. I fear flying. I get nervous for at least a day leading up to a flight. But if I didn’t get on a plane I wouldn’t be able to do what I love best which is travelling. I recognise it, breath, look for small gains and push through. If I let fear take hold, fear of the unknown, fear of foreign places, I wouldn’t have been to the 82 countries that I have been to. I wouldn’t get that exhilarating feeling that travel gives me.

• Consider what is the worst that can happen? Play out the worst-case scenario in your mind and be realistic. I once drove across the state in three days in a manual ute after only having learnt to drive manual from one of my dad’s friends less than two weeks before. Man, I was filled with fear. The fear I would stall the car at an intersection. The fear I would cause an accident. The fear I would ruin the gearbox. But I did it anyway. So what if I stalled it, I started the car again and carried on. I never had an accident and I never ruined the gearbox. I drove for hours, I drove to places I have never been to before. All with a huge grin on my face. I was proud. Proud of myself for not letting fear win. Proud I was doing something I had never dreamed possible. There is nothing better than that.

• Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Do things that scare you. Do things you never dreamed possible or even ever imagined. Start small and build up to the bigger things. Do not overload yourself. Who wants to be comfortable for the rest of their life? Test your boundaries, you will surprise yourself. Who knows what you are capable of if you haven’t given it a shot? Think about all the amazing experiences you will be missing out on. Who knows who you would never have met? Because I travel, I have friends all over the world. I have been to their weddings, their birthday parties and to meet their newborn babies. I get to be part of their lives. I don’t say goodbye any more because I know I will see them again.

• Set yourself up with a support network. Lean on family and friends. Put yourself out there on a Facebook group page. I can guarantee there are others out there who will be feeling the same way. I have a fear of heights but I have skydived three times. My sister and friends supported me through and revved me up. I am so fortunate to say I have skydived and in three incredible places around the world.

• Do not be ashamed of your fears, it doesn’t matter how irrational they are. All fears can be managed. I have a fear of shopping trolleys. They give me great anxiety. Along with finding a parking spot and then finding what I need to buy, then queuing then paying. A simple grocery shop is stress invoking experience for me. So I use click and collect where someone does all the work for me and I just simply pick it up. If I must go in, I choose a basket instead, never a shopping trolley. Or I palm the job off to my dad who is more than happy to pick something up at the shops for me.

• Choose faith over fear. Faith in myself. Faith in my destiny. Faith that the universe has my back. I choose to have faith that everything will work out that way it is meant. I choose to have faith that everything I experience is for a reason. Learning to trust myself is a huge mission. I have a huge fear of getting my heart broken again but if I let that hold me back I wouldn’t have the incredible boyfriend that I do. I wouldn’t get to experience the feeling of love, companionship or true happiness. I wouldn’t learn life skills such as compromise, sacrifice and being thoughtful.

• Delete failure from your vocabulary and know there is no such thing as perfect. You can’t fail but you can learn from every experience. See everyone as your teacher. Same deal with perfection, it is impossible. Forget aiming for it. It is not worth your time. Remember your good is probably a lot better than someones else’s great. Don’t compare yourself, your life or your decisions to someone else’s.

• Create your own affirmations of confirmations that you can do it. E.g. I will not stand in my own way. I am free to do as I please. I am free from my thoughts and my mind when I relax and have faith. I create my own rules for life. I am living my best life. Repeat these every day. Imagine what life stories you will create. What adventures you will have.

Life is short. Don’t live a half-lived life. Don’t miss out on how great your life could be by letting fear hold you back. Create a life story that you are proud of; that can be talked about and shared with the grandkids for many years after you have passed.

What do you fear? What steps do you take to push past your fears? What is something you are proud of achieving despite your fear? Feel free to join the conversation and leave a comment below.