I promised to share three principles on how to overcome fear. The first two are defang your fear and develop action plans. In case you missed it, just check out my previous posts.
Have you ever heard this expression: “The best way to predict the future is to create it”? But when you think about it, we really cannot create the future. We really cannot control our circumstances. Not the economy, the market, the competition, the weather. It’s like Calvin in the cartoon below.
We admit to this reality when the term VUCA was popularized: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity.
So what do you do? Here comes a quotation which I really love. “I don’t know what the future will hold. But I know who host the future.” The third principle is to depend on a Higher Power.
Some of you may say we count on fate, destiny or some moral law in the universe. For me, I’ve subscribed to the Christian faith that we have not only an omnipotent, omniscient God, but a God who cares. One of my favorite Bible passages goes: “Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.”
Yes, I may be afraid. Yes, things may get rough. Yes, I can’t control my future. But I know the God who controls the future is the same God who cares for me.
I know of a sales executive who kept on being worried sick. His organization depended on his ability to bring in the proverbial bacon. Competition is fiercer than ever. Price negotiations got brutal. And so he had sleepless nights.
One evening, he had an epiphany. He read the passage I quoted above and realized how foolish it was to carry a burden that was not meant for him to carry. He prayed, “God, I did my best. Now I’m going to sleep. No sense in both of us staying awake.”
It was his best slumber in months. Guess what? As he was more relaxed and less harassed, he was able to close new deals.
The opposite of fear is not courage. It is faith. Faith in a good God who showed His love for us at the Cross. And if He went that far to show His care for us, why won’t He care for us day after day?
As we put ourselves in the hands of the Great Shepherd, the safest place in all the universe, we can avow with the psalmist, “I will fear no evil.”
#fear #anxiety #courage #coaching #careercoaching #careertips
June 5, 2023
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