We all have fears. Some are truly deserved.
Walking in the woods and stumbling across the path of a wild animal can get our hearts pumping faster as we fear what might happen.
Driving a car and hitting a patch of ice can immediately bring up the fear of crashing.
These are situations that fear is normal and appropriate.
There are fears that are unreasonable. Unreasonable fears are holding us back from becoming the person we are to be. And the world needs us to be the person that God designed us to be.
Our Future Is Unclear
Yoda tells us that “Difficult to see, always in motion is the future.”
No one knows the future but God.
Pastors don’t.
Politicians don’t.
Teachers don’t.
Parents don’t.
Friends don’t.
You don’t.
You don’t need to know the future. You don’t need to know the whole plan for your life.
As Martin Luther King Jr. tells us, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
We should seek counsel from others when needed, we also need to “take the first step in faith.”
That first step is often believing in yourself.
Doing Things Outside Your Comfort Zone
If you ask my friends, they will tell you that I am not handy.
I call them in to help on projects and I am there to do the manual labor. My two best friends even refer to me as “Manual” instead of Manuel.
I am uncomfortable doing things around my house that requires skills that previous generations “just knew”.
I can change a light bulb but wouldn’t dare attempt to change an outlet unless Dan or James was there to supervise. I know that electricity can kill you quickly. My healthy respect for electricity keeps me from doing electrical work.
This weekend, I tackled something I hadn’t done before. After painting my office, I put up wood paneling.
I did not want to have a white wall behind my desk. With Zoom calls becoming the norm, I wanted a nice background, enter the wood paneling.
Of course my walls are not 8 feet tall and a multiple of 4 feet wide. Thank meant measuring and cutting.
I measured 4-5 times before I cut. The height was great.
The problem was, I have 3 electric outlets on the wall that I needed to have access to. I measured 10+ times for each location and used borrowed tools to cut and make the holes.
Now the issue was the outlets were recessed and needed to come out 3/8″. After some YouTube searching, I found out how to do things. Off to Home Depot for supplies and I bumped out the outlets and didn’t electrocute myself.
As I mentioned, doing things around the house like that is outside of my comfort zone.
Give me manual labor to do and I will gladly do it.
Have me pack up a rental truck in Maryland and drive to Texas and I will do it.
Fly me to Mississippi and have me drive a rental truck back to Maryland and I will do it.
Ask me to take you to or pick you up from the airport, regardless of the time, I will do it.
Have me play “Mr. Fix-It” and I can feel my stomach start to flip.
What about you? What is something that gets your stomach to start flipping?
Taking The First Step, The Second Step, and more
My first step to fix the outlet dilemma was to look on YouTube.
After watching the video, I was confident that I could do it so I took the second step.
The next step was to go buy the parts if needed.
The final step was to add the needed spacers and put the wood paneling back over the location and secure it.
What about you?
Do you have something that needs to be done but you fear to do it?
Are you feeling called to create a new lifestyle for yourself and your family?
Are you afraid to move out into the world of self-employment?
Ask yourself, is this “thing” life-threatening or just outside my comfort zone?
Seek Counsel
What’s one step you can take today after you’ve identified that one thing that needs to be done that is outside your comfort zone?
Don’t let fear keep you from doing it.
If knowledge is needed, there are plenty of videos on YouTube that can help explain how to do something.
What if YOU have knowledge that can help people? Will you get out of your comfort zone and share your wisdom and story?
Just take the first step.
Some people make more progress in one day than others do in weeks and months because of one simple reason…they face their fears.
