Thursday, August 20, 2009

Overcoming Fear Factor

Last night my result was out .And thank God, I passed and to my surprise with good marks. Anyway, what’s more important is this whole event led to a monologue conversation with myself about success, failures and overcoming fears .It got me thinking a lot about my battle with numerous fears over these years..to name a few- fear of rejection, solitude, losing, fear of public speaking, being laughed at..and the biggest of all- fear of failure. And the things that helped me overcoming these fears.

I don’t know how I became a host of these fears, from where they emanated , but certainly I wanted to get rid of them always , for they left me anxious, forlorn and with some wild phantasms of imaginations. With time, I succeeded in getting over most of them, but overcoming ‘fear of failure’ was the toughest call.

Fear of failure – this held me back from stepping out, held me back from reaching out to my dreams. I always longed for some kind of assurance that I would meet success before even putting forward my foot. With the passage of time, I conquered this feeling and now when I ponder about it- the thing that helped me the most was my change of attitude of perceiving failure.

For me, success - failure had been a black and white game. You set a target, and you achieve, its success and if not, then its black out-failure. I forgot that something existed in between. What if I didn’t meet the ultimate goal, I had covered a certain distance and so I cannot be a total failure. I lie somewhere between white and black and this is what I call ‘shade of gray’. This discovery brought a crucial change in my mind-set. My perception to see and relate various shades of gray to my success was like finding Aladdin's lamp. It brought both motivation and optimism in me.

And now, I am no longer harboring this fear. The word ‘failure’ seems amiable to me in comparison to what it appeared before. Defeating the fear is more like committing yourself to FAIL. For me, failure is no longer an antonym of success. It teaches me what is not to be done or what will work better. In other words, it lays path to success.

And of course, how can I forget my friends and all my near and dear ones whose support and faith helped me in overcoming my fears. Thanks to all!!

“Fear isn’t real. It exists only in future. And since, future doesn’t exist..Guess what? Fear doesn’t exist either….”
- anonymous.
So live , live freely , without any fear!!!