There is just this extreme form of fear of the unknown. For a while now I have been experiencing this particular kind of fear. And it is a scary one. So I happened to read an article by Kathryn Sandford who is a life coach passionate about supporting others to grow and thrive in this complex world, and I found the read quite interesting since it was all about what I have been going through myself; Fear of The Unknown. I learned a few hacks from her article and thought it best to share them out on this post. I believe there’s more people like me out there who are/have been fearful and I really do hope that you can grasp a thing or two from this post.

The fear of the unknown can be hard to describe because all the thoughts around this fear are in your head. And it is definitely based on negative feelings. Otherwise there wouldn’t be any fear to begin with if one had positive feelings. The negative feelings create mental blocks and have a detrimental impact on one’s life. Be that as it may, it varies from person to person on how bad the impact could be.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not the one who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear”

Nelson Mandela

This is definitely something that has been eating me up and trying to live life to my fullest potential and facing my unknown fear head-on. Someone once told me that to overcome and conquer my fear of the unknown, I have to be committed to making changes within myself. Not easy, but definitely not impossible! There are a few ways I came across Kathryn’s article to overcome fear of the unknown:

• Understand your fear- Accept that you have fearful thoughts but do not let them paralyze your life.
• Find the cause of your fear- The fear of the unknown is made up of thoughts and beliefs that result from negative experiences. I personally discovered, just recently, that I don’t take failure very well and from the common cliché “Human is to error”, I got hurt deeply that making right the wrong I did scared me because of the very fear of having to fail again. So once you identify the cause of your fear, brainstorm on ways to minimize risk and ways to cope with hurdles you may face.
• Accept failure as an option- If you can’t accept that fear is an option then you will be convinced to stay in your comfort zone. This is so true you know! One has to be willing to step out of the comfort zone. Take away the idea of failure and use the set-backs as experience to draw lessons from. There will definitely be a positive outcome at the end of the journey. Trust the process.

“The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed.”

Gordon Parks

• Embrace change- Change is the one thing that is constant in our lives. The more we resist change the more it becomes persistent. Open up to change and you will be resilient and courageous.

Fear of the unknown is created by our minds and self-limiting beliefs that are held in our minds. For some of us, these thoughts have been existing since time immemorial and have had a huge influence on how we live our lives. These thoughts won’t go away overnight and it takes commitment and hard work to retain your mind so that you can have peace and manage the noise of thoughts in your mind. Mindfulness is one of the best strategies to manage an overworked and busy mind.

“To make the right decisions and choices in life, you have to get in touch with your soul. To do so, you need to experience solitude, which most people are afraid of because in the silence you hear the truth and know the solutions.”

Deepak Chopra

Bottom Line: To live your dreams and embrace life, you have to be fearless and willing to step in to the unknown. There is no other way of living your life to your fullest potential.