Every new year, I take some time to reflect on my life. How I have lived, the mistakes I’ve made, the achievements I’ve accomplished, and how I can improve myself.

When life knocks us out, evaluating our life is so damn depressing that we just ignore it and carry on.

We feel trapped and depressed like we’ve backed ourselves into a corner that has no escape.

We believe we cannot change because we will fail, or it will be too insecure, or people will think we are crazy.

We’re held back by the thought that maybe that’s all there is to us, and we’d better get used to it.

“Every day we’re given a choice: We can relax and float in the direction that the water flows, or we can swim hard against it. If we go with the river, the energy of a thousand mountain streams will be with us . . . if we resist the river, we will feel rankled and tired as we tread water, stuck in the same place.” — Elizabeth Lesser

You may feel like you are stuck in a relationship or a job or between friends. It could be in your entire career choice, your city, or your marriage. Maybe it’s how you treat your body, your employees, or your world.

Either way, you avoid thinking deeply about it because part of you knows that once you admit you’re stuck, you need to do something about it.

And doing something about it means you will have to change— which scares you. You’re not sure you have the energy— the plan, or focus to actually make a change.

What is the worst thing that can come from your fears?

“One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.” — Henry Ford

Most people allow their fears to stop them from moving forward. They don’t take the actions needed to achieve their dreams.

They don’t take the step to ask the person they like out or do whatever they need to do to create the life they want.

Some will do anything to avoid being fearful. Whether it is good fears or bad fears, they will do anything to avoid fear at all costs.

Fears are false expectations appearing real. Fear is an illusion of our minds. And most of the fears we have are not life-threatening.

Our biggest fears are usually fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of divorce, fear of losing your job, fear of success, fear of not being good enough, fear of your spouse leaving you. And none of these are life-threatening.

Fear is bad if they have the potential to kill you. For example, when you are walking through a forest in the middle of the night, and you hear the bush rustle, you feel fear because there could be something in that forest that could kill you right there.

But if your fear is not wanting to post your content on Facebook, or you’re too afraid to make a sales call to your prospects because you will be criticized for it, that is you staying in your comfort zone.

Because when you do publish that content, there’s a potential growth at the end of it. People will see your content and hire you. They will follow you or sign up for your email list.

That call you are too afraid to make might just be the one call that brings in a 50% return to your business. When you expose your skill to the public, you build trust and loyalty for potential growth.

So most of the fears that we feel are because we are out of our comfort zone, not that there is potential death in that situation but rather potential growth, and that is a good thing.

When you learn to differentiate good fears (comfort zone) and bad fears (life threats), you start to shift your mindset into recognizing favorable opportunities and taking action.

All you need is one step

“The first thing you have to do is take everything with a grain of salt. You know, you’ve gotta just look at the goal, focus on what you gotta do and take one step at a time as a whole, as every performance being that’s it, that’s one objective, and let’s just move forward and work on that.”
— Stefano Langone

It takes courage to pull off those dreams. It takes courage to stay focused and begin again.

It takes courage to admit that something good will turn up for you in the end. It takes courage to initiate big change and trust in the process.

You just have to begin with taking one step forward to overcome your fear today.

If it’s a phone you need to make, do it. If you need to write an article, take a pen and paper and start scrambling the words. Is your partner stressing you out? Leave them.

Yes, a new journey may seem scary, but you will know it is a risk worth taking.

Jessey Anthony is a motivational speaker, fitness coach, and relationship expert who helps people become confident in themselves in any challenges they face in life. Sign up to my newsletter & more cool stuff.