The late, great Jim Morrison had a simple solution for dealing with fear:

EXPOSURE.

As a longtime fan of  The Doors, I’ve always admired Jim’s poetic insights and personally found his eccentric nature fascinating, but benefitting from the wisdom in his words does not require being a fan of his work.

The bottom line of his message is timelessly relevant. AND I daresay it’s something we all already know, but I’ll say it out loud anyway because I need to hear it – out loud and in print with the purpose of not being able to pretend I don’t know it (out of fear, of course):

IF SOMETHING SCARES THE PISS OUT OF YOU, YOU MUST SAY YES TO IT.

Even the little things that don’t actually scare the piss out of you per se, but cause you a bit of uneasiness for no logical reason?

Say yes to it. DO IT.

Perceive it as a sign from the universe that you are being called to it, and recognize the niggling of fear as an indicator that “I’m meant to do this” and jump in. 

Not the things you don’t have peace about within and know not to participate in instinctively- this instinct is there for a reason and you’re wise to adhere to it.

I’m talking about the myriad of situations or circumstances that keep popping up or showing themselves to you one way or another in your life that you feel drawn to, and yet panicked by.

This is the magnetic force of the universe attempting to guide you on your path. The things that will make the most difference in your life once you accomplish them are the very things you will be the most frightened of.

The following is an exercise to utilize every time fear is about to stop you in your tracks:

Picture the situation as though your life is a board game (as I’ve said before, I always need a good visual or analogy to make something stick- it’s my “in”).

We roll the dice and move along 1-6 spaces regularly, but if we earn a card from the FEAR deck and see the mission through, we get to LEAP to the next level.

Regardless of the outcome of the mission.

The outcome was not the workout. EXPOSING OURSELVES TO THE FEAR of undertaking the mission was the workout.

Say YES to the mission and you get to leap.

And while perhaps not the quantum leap through spacetime like Sam Beckett, “striving to put right, what once went wrong“, most of us will agree that a “huge, often sudden, increase or change” in our lives is almost always welcome.

Especially when it takes us to the next level.

And who knows what may be waiting for us there? Only in allowing our fear to motivate rather than stop us, will we find out.

As Jim pointed out, facing your fear is the key to your freedom. I can’t speak for you, but that’s a key I want to pocket.

Made the scene
Week to week
Day to day
Hour to hour
The gate is straight
Deep and wide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side…

Songwriters: James Morrison / John Densmore / Raymond Manzarek / Robert Krieger