Let fear be your teacher
Most of us have, at some point, experienced some kind of fear that paralyses us and stops us from moving forward towards our set goals. There are lots of psychologists and experts who will provide some sort of explanation about fear, whether it's rational or irrational, how it is linked to our 'fight-or-flight' response...
From a martial arts perspective, we learn to deal with our fears head on. We accept the fact early on that fear is often here to stay and that our challenge is more about how we look past our fear, set our eyes on our target, and keep moving forward despite everything.
It could be a fear of sparring, fear of getting hit, fear of being thrown down when we reach green belt, fear of working with a physically stronger person... Then we relate this to our fears outside the dojo: fear of going for a job interview, public speaking, opening a business, running a marathon, a difficult but necessary meeting with our boss... But remember that, what we learn on the mats is to keep moving forward no matter what.
Once we accept that our fears actually only materialise unless we do something about them, it's the first step in the right direction.
