Overcoming Fear and learning to live a courageous life

The other day I came across a link in the Huffingtonpost, I was so excited. So many of the points in the article about conquering fear, are strategies that I put in one of my stories,  Raymund and the Fear Monster. How did I know? I'm not a psychologist, a counsellor or an authority of overcoming fear.

I am is someone who has had first hand experience of fear, and overcoming them.

I had the typical childhood fears. I was absolutely certain that there were monsters under my bed. I didn't tell my parents. For years my mother wondered why I slept right in the middle of the bed. I mean, that was the only spot that the monsters hands could not get me. 

I was afraid of the dark and the things in the dark. I was afraid of the monster that lived in the toilet pipes. I could him rattle and bang around in there. I was always waiting for him to grab my butt. (Though, living in Queensland, it would have been a big green frog that would have touched my butt). 

I grew up in a household with an alcoholic and abusive father, where everyday I lived in fear. I was kicked out of home at sixteen and lived on the streets. Fear kept me alive and I survived. In the past few years, living with a chronic illness has it's own unique set of fears that I must face daily. 

To quote Aristotle, "Courage is the first of human virtues because it makes all others possible." 

So what do I do? 

1. I acknowledge that I am afraid and what I am afraid of. 
2. I take deep breaths and try to focus on what I can do. 
3. I endeavour to manage my stress and to exercise. 
4. I practice courageous acts: I do things that I don't think I can (eg. I went to the Philippines on a Mission Trip with my church while in the middle of our winter. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to walk much, I was afraid as it was my first time overseas and my daughter and I went a day early). 
5. I make myself face the things that I am afraid of, over and over again. 
6. I focus on the good things, the things that give me hope, meaning and purpose. 

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Children can do these things also to overcome their fears, one step at a time. Then they too, can live a courageous life, as can you.
 

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