3 Things About Fear
When it comes to creativity, fear seems to be an paralyzing resistance to the process of creating. But there’s something crazy about Fear that you may not know; there are a few things you need to know before you let it shut you down.
In my book Creative Potential: Principles for Unleashing Your God-Given Calling, I unpack three ideas at length and share why fear should move from a paralyzing agent to a catalytic agent.
1. Fear is a Myth. The worst possible scenario is extremely unlikely to take place, that’s why it’s called “the worst possible scenario.” It’s unlikely that because creating in spite of your fear you’ll lose your job, car, house or life savings. We concoct this false reality, put in place by the fear within us, that we’ll be excommunicated from our community because of failure. All of this is because you created something that wasn’t good enough, in your opinion.
Therefore, fear is something we come up with. It doesn’t actually exists. Which means the moment we choose to acknowledge it, is the moment we give it more power than it deserves. When we see it as the thing that will limit us, we don’t use it as a tool. However, when we see it as a myth, we use it as a tool to overcome the moment of wanting to quit.
2. Fear is a Choice. We often think that fear is this prison we’re stuck in, however that’s not entirely accurate. Fear is a choice, because it resides in our own mind. And because of that, it is less prison-based, and far more freedom-minded. When we recognize that fear is a choice, then we also recognize that we have the keys to open up the door to freedom.
Instead of always wondering if someone is going to like the work we put out, or the product we end up making. Lets instead start using fear as a catalyst for our creativity by seeing it from the inside out. Begin choosing to ask questions like this:
- Who would be hurt if I don’t create this thing?
- What experience may be lacking if I never step up to create?
- How is my community worse off if I don’t step into my own calling?
3. Fear is to be Conquered. Both the fear of failure and the fear success can seem to be paralyzing factors for the creative soul. But when we step into the creative process, both sides of fear must be conquered. In the conquering, we step into the unknown and trust God to take control over our situation.
For me (as I share in the book), my fear of giving up the calling I thought was mine, was hindering me from stepping into the calling I was designed for. But in the process, I learned that when we overcome our fears, we actually become a little bit more like Jesus. In the last hours of his life, I’m sure he wrestled with fear. He was fully God and fully man, which means he didn’t want to feel the pain, he didn’t want to have to experience death, and yet walked right into conquering both fears (success and failure) in spite.
