Are you facing your fears?

One thing I have learned over the past year is to face my fears. I know that it says in 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath  not given  us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love,and of a sound mind.“

We don’t always walk in faith. Unconsciously going through life timidly without boldness, strength or courage can be crippling.  We may not always realize we are walking in fear because we tend to focus on the problem and not the resolution.  We find ways to avoid or ignore issues and never deal with it.  The question we should ask ourselves is why am I avoiding this problem?

No matter how you try to answer this question, the root of it is due to fear. Often times we don’t want to admit to fear due to pride, so we’ll make excuses for not facing the problem. We layer our problems with so many excuses that we loose sight of the core of many of the challenges we face in life.

I’ve noticed that if I don’t deal with an issue for whatever reason, the issue never goes away.  Let’s take bills for instance.  There was a time when I was afraid to open my bills.  I wasn’t always like that.  I was just going through a tough financial time and had exhausted all of my reserves.  Bills would come in and I already knew I didn’t have the money to take care of it, so I never opened it nor communicated with the company I owed money to.  The next month would go by and same thing would happen.

Next thing you know, I’m getting letters from collection agencies, attorney’s and courts to settle a debt.

Bottom line is, when you don’t deal with something, it not only does not go away, but it grows and gets bigger.  It get’s to the point where it’s so big that you have no choice but to deal with it and it will cost you more. More time, more money, more stress, more heartache and pain.

Now to put things into perspective, this not only applies to financial issues but life issues. If something you haven’t dealt with from your childhood, an old relationship or a traumatic experience, we must find ways to face that issue head on.  It’s okay to ask for help because sometimes we may not have the answers. Someone may have experienced something similar to you and can offer advice on how they overcame the challenge.

There was a time in my life when I was dealing with the death of my aunt, my mother and coming out of a very tumultuous relationship and being away from my children for the first time.  The only way I knew how to deal with this was to shut down.  Shut down communication with those who cared about me and isolate myself. I would shield myself from ever having to deal with all the emotions I had going on in my life at that time.

Until a friend of mine confronted me on it.  They told me that I couldn’t leave until I opened up and talked about whatever was going on with me.

Was it uncomfortable?  Yes.  Was it be painful?  Yes. Did I get mad?  Very! But a breakthrough eventually came through.

Today when an issue comes up, I want to talk about it and deal with it right away.  When bills come in I open it immediately.  Because of my proactive approach, I now have less stress and I’m able to sleep well at night knowing that I have resolve in my life.  So there is hope and a light at the end of the tunnel.

Ask yourself the question, would you rather deal with the temporary pain now or live with the pain forever?  Would you rather get a ticket for speeding and not wearing a seatbelt and pay the fines now or get into a car accident from speeding, not wear a seatbelt and be paralyzed for the rest of your life?  Slow down and wear a seat belt now. I encourage you and myself together, let’s face our fears in 2016 and beyond!

20+ Year Radio Veteran, Sean Anthony is the Host of the syndicated talk show, “Flow of Wisdom Radio.” It airs live Sundays 3p-5p EST on the GCN Radio Networks (gcnlive.com.) Call in 877-300-7645. He is also the author of “Conversations With Hip Hop” available on Amazon.com