The Revolt Against Fear

“Fear is our greatest enemy” is my Dad’s favourite slogan. He taught us this when we were little daughters. And this has always been our mantra for life. But somethings are easier said than done, aren’t they? So is the case of overcoming the fear. To talk of fear, it doesn’t really matter how big or how small it is, what matters is that even .01% of fear in our mind can diminish all our strengths and render us helpless.

Everyone says that to overcome fear we have to take some risks, TRUE! I tell it from the personal experience that irrespective of the scale of risk you are going to take, a risk is a Risk. I realized it when the reality dawned upon me and the public-fearing girl had to make a speech in front of people-packed auditorium. I was ready to run away and never come back. I wished the Earth to swallow me at that moment. I just didn’t had the strength to face the people. Infact out of this fear I had never opted to be part of any public speaking activity. But this time life hadn’t left me any option. Well most of the people who saw me panicking wondered what was the case. Little did they knew about my fear. My friends who were good at it gave me strength saying it was just a matter of few minutes and I would easily get through this. They tried their best to convince me that it was nothing but a silly fear in my mind. But their words were like hitting the wall and I was hiding behind it holding on tight and refusing to let go of my fear.

For a person like me who literally hated to go out in public at that time, addressing a room full of it was an uphill task. To anyone sane, there was nothing to be afraid of. But to me, it was liking risking my life. What if the words don’t come out? What if I stammer? What if I am not loud enough? What if people laughed at me? What if people didn’t like my words? What if this… what if that… and what not! I swear I thought I would die of embarrassment then and there! To me it was the biggest risk, the risk of losing myself, my respect, my everything. It was the risk of failing and as if this failure would end my life, my self-confidence, my self-esteem, my everything. I know I sound so silly, even to myself now. But then getting out of my cozy comfort zone was the biggest risk to take. But the words of my Dad resonated in my heart and I went ahead on the stage. As word after another word came out of my mouth, I felt more confident. Suddenly the people in front me who had seemed to be intimidating earlier now seemed to be friendly and welcoming. Those five minutes changed something within me, I found a belief inside me. A belief that said if I decide I can surely achieve what I want, the size of it didn’t matter.

But so is our mind that if a fear remains unchallenged for a long time, it makes our mind its home. Similar thing happened recently. I had started learning driving and as happens with almost everyone, I collided with my car into the other car. Thank god, nobody was hurt (yes, including both the cars). But then I didn’t had the heart to pick up the car keys again. The scene would play on rewind in my head whenever I thought of driving again. But like Dad’s slogan had done wonders years ago, the slogan of this era- Darr ke aage jeet hai (There is victory after fear) poured strength drop by drop. I was just scrolling through the newsfeed on Facebook when I came across this Tamil video of the Dew movie. Some one from my friendlist has shared it. Though I couldn’t understand the language, but the message was loud and clear- Rise Above Fear. Have a look.

The video showcases the trio beating all odds to overcome their fear, but that doesn’t mean that your fear has to be so big to be fought! It isn’t necessary that you need to climb a mountain or jump of the cliff to beat your fear. All you have to do is Rise above fear! To get up and move out of your comfort zone and voila! You will know that your fear was nothing but a myth! I called up the driving trainer right after watching the video. Yes, so was the effect 🙂

This post is written for Indiblogger Happy Hours and Mountain Dew.