#5 Fear

The role that fear plays in our life should not be understated. Fear is at the root of many of the beliefs we hold and actions we take. It is similarly tied to our inaction, the reason why we “decide” not to do something that we want to do. We fear failure, consequences, authority, or the unknown. We fear disapproval. We fear the reactions of our family, friends, or peers. These fears play an integral role in our decision making which in turn forms our life. Something that we can do to help understand the roles these fears play is to practice introspection. If we want to be able to deal problems stemming from this area effectively, we must first learn about it. Learn what causes these fears, why they exist, from where they come, why we’ve learned to think this way, and so on. Once we have answered the more fundamental pieces, we can begin to build off of them and tackle more complicated questions relating to fear and the role it plays in our life.