#9 Preventative Maintenance

Up until now, my advice to you has been to catch fear when it shows up. But as you grow and see patterns, you can start to do some preventative work, pushing back on fear before it ever shows up. I am going to do my best to walk you through what has worked for me, but I encourage you to get creative and to pray about what might help you win your own personal battles. As always, take everything I say with a grain of salt, and test my ideas against your own experience. Don’t keep at something that isn’t working. 

But what do I mean by preventative maintenance? On something like your car or house, this means solving your problems before they start. You change things out before they break down so that you can avoid a major disaster. And while that sounds pretty cool on paper, how does that play out in real life? What does it truly mean to take the fight to your fears, and what outcome should you expect to see?

The first step is to begin keeping your head clear. If you are in sync with what is really going on around you, you can get a better grasp of how you should be reacting to various things. Let’s pretend, for example, that I have a low-mileage car from a reputable company, that has been taken care of before me, and has my mechanic’s seal of approval. When I hear a strange noise, or feel a hiccup on the road, I’ll have grounds to tell myself not to panic, and that it’s probably nothing. 

The point I am trying to make is to get to know your life and your head in a general sense. It’s yet another reason I recommend journaling. If you haven’t started this practice already, I suggest committing to a page a day, or even less if that seems daunting. Even if you just take the time to jot down one word to describe your day, it will get your foot into the door and you will eventually gain some momentum with the habit. 

The second thing you can do is to block off some time to explore your fears. Commit to it like a business meeting. Show up on time, crack open a notebook and really focus your efforts on understanding the things you avoid and make you uncomfortable. Highlight the patterns across all of your experiences and try to see the common threads. Pretend that you are an FBI agent, tracking down a wanted criminal. Figure out their next move and thwart it before it ever happens. It will take time to really get good at this, but if you never start, you will never get there. Take some time to explore and see what you can uncover. 

It’s also important to start cutting back on any bad habits that are keeping you from growing. Social media is designed to keep you scrolling, so it’s best to cut it out of your life as best you can. But the problem isn’t limited to the usual suspects like facebook and youtube, it’s anything that you feel fueling your panic levels. For me, I have had to go as far as not checking my email because I get the same gambler’s rush waiting for different people to get back to me. I know it sounds silly, but it’s true! 

Take some time to look for those things that are agitating you. It could be checking your watch, maybe you need to change your commute to avoid a high-stress spot (I had a friend that would go to the gym after work to avoid sitting in traffic.) You may have to do something eccentric, something that may have people calling you strange. But pay them no mind! You are on your own journey and if you are seeing results that you like, that’s all that matters! 

Lastly, know where your fears live and tread lightly. Don’t be like me and push yourself to “just hack it.” It may seem like you’re winning by surviving that night on the town, but if you aren’t improving what’s going on in your head, you’re just sinking in quicksand. Sure, there may be special occasions where you may need to put on your tough-stuff boots and bite the bullet, but don’t keep them on for long. It’s easy to justify ignoring your fear because a part of you insists that you shouldn’t feel this way. That’s bogus. Yes, you shouldn’t be feeling this way, but that doesn’t mean you can simply walk it off. You have a wound that needs healing, and it needs to be addressed intentionally. Treat it like a broken leg and try not to walk on it more than you have to, and most certainly don’t sign up for any marathons!

Dedicate some time to go after your fears. Get serious about this because it can change the course of your life in the long run. I pray you find your way and begin to nurture the inner spark, removing all things that choke out the bonfire of your soul. And I pray you have a great and wonderful day.

Until next time

May Peace be your guide.