There Are Two Sides to Every FEAR Story
Remember bedtime as a kid… laying there super still, sheets tucked tightly under your chin, and the only exposed part of your body was your face?
You just “knew” that the monster under your bed would devour any limb or phalange that happened to escape the covers. And why we thought our head was off-limits to that scary freak is still a mystery to me.
As an adult, that fear seems so stinkin’ silly because we know there are no such things as monsters. Wait, you knew that, right? I kid. I kid.
Did you ever think about the fact that this child-like “monster fear” only reared its ugly noggin’ at night… but never during the day?
Think about the difference between night and day, dark and light, and how they influence our perspective.
In the dark…
We are limited to what we can see, so our natural reaction is a state of uncertainty… and fear is the result.
But in the light…
We can clearly see and understand what is in front of us. Certainty becomes our hero and confidence is our cape.
I think we would all agree that the state of our world definitely puts a tally mark in the dark category. There is so much uncertainty… and so much fear right now.
Six months ago, we were going about business as usual – gainfully employed, kids were in school – at school, we were busier than we probably should have been with all of our kids’ activities, and we had plenty of toilet paper… but then… the lights went out.
Darkness… Uncertainty… Fear…
For us women, that monster of uncertainty can be a recipe for disaster… in our minds, at least.
We don’t know what to expect. We don’t know how to plan. We don’t know when it will get better.
This uncertainty makes the “chaos coordinator” inside of us feel as though we have lost control. Fear then becomes our narrative, expressing itself as stress, anxiety, anger, etc.
Sister, I want you to stop right there and let this soak in.
“Feelings” make OK servants, but don’t you dare let them call the shots.
When circumstances crash the party of this thing we call life…a cancer diagnosis, job loss, divorce, pandemic, etc., we have two choices:
We can either REACT or RESPOND.
When we move forward without thinking, make irrational decisions out of despair, have a limited perspective or simply freeze, we have chosen to REACT to uncertainty.
But when we pause, take a deep breath, consider what we know to be true, and recalibrate our compass… we have chosen to RESPOND to the potential “monster under our bed.” We act with purpose.
One of these smells like fear… The other shines like courage.
Friend, are you standing in a place of uncertainty right now? I want to encourage you with the idea that there are two sides to every FEAR story… and YOU get to decide which one will be written.
What do you say? Throw back those covers and RESPOND to that “monster under your bed” with COURAGE.
