If anyone can psyche themselves out, it would be me. I stall. I regularly have conversations with myself, and God, to drop the fear, unharness the words, and put one foot in front of the other.

Novelist Stephen King knows all about the unhealthy relationship between fear and writing, “Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation.”

Former Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, and author, Michael Hyatt is also familiar with the battle of fear, “Courage is the willingness to act in spite of your fear.”

Eleanor Roosevelt, a former first lady, writer and speaker; a woman who was filled to the brim with wisdom, “I believe anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.”

When we psyche ourselves out, write the same chapter over and over again, stall from our own muck – smother the mind, and then rejoice when we get to the other side (What took us so long to write that?), we know one thing – fear was hardly worth what we put ourselves through!

I would never have known to quote these three people if they had decided their life-long passions and goals were too difficult to reach, if they had not put a death to their fears.

The solution is often as simple as asking ourselves, are you the writer of that book or blog, or is it someone else? Do you own that business, or does someone else open and close the doors, and manage the hours in-between?

Fear can be useful, it can produce a fresh outlook. I’ve acquired new ideas after a period of down time, after allowing myself to (gently) psyche out for a short while. Just remember to throttle back up; never stop the imagination, never stop the will, and never stop completely!

When do you encounter fear? What do you do when you are in a self-inflicted impasse? How do you conquer fear?

Share, Encourage, and Grow

Mary Humphrey