Midlife Makeover

Fearism and Your Life by Alan Forrest Smith

I'm getting some great stuff through my email inbox this week... Like this thought-provoker from acclaimed, Warrington-based copywriter and marketing consultant, Alan Forrest Smith, which is the perfect antidote to all the current doom and gloom:

Fear factor.

There is one thing hidden deep inside you that can stop you dead in your tracks from doing almost anything on a daily, weekly, monthly, or annual basis (or even for the rest of your life).

That one thing can be overcome.  When it's overcome the rewards can be huge.

Let me explain...

Before I went on a trip to the Amazon recently, I had a conversation with myself (not in a crazy, cuckoo's nest way) about some of the dangers I would face.

I knew from the pre-trip information sheets that we would and could encounter truly wild animals that would love to eat someone like me on some kind of jungle sandwich.

I also knew that there could be numerous other dangers that would scare a big baby like me to death.

One of those things revealed itself during the trip in the form of a swim in the Amazon river.  Now what you have to understand is this; I don't like swimming in open water of any kind. I have always had this fear of becoming the breakfast of some kind of big fish or sea monster that is lurking and waiting to see what I taste like.

So on one day the trip guides asked us if we would like to do a trip along the Amazon river. The trip involved a 30 minute dugout canoe ride up river. When at the top, we could jump into the river from the canoes and then float all the way back to where we came from. The current would take us down. This would last about 2 hours.

What you need to remember is this:

Piranhas live in the river.  Three metre alligators also live in the muddy waters.  Huge anacondas live in the river.  And just to add to the fear factor, there are also plenty of poisonous snakes and lots of other hungry mud-living monsters looking for a meal.

My fear factor switched on at lightning speed.  Frankly the thought of going on scared me to death.

But here's the thing:

What is fear?

Fear has to be the expectation of something not yet taken place.  So fear is future based. We do not know what is going to happen in the future generally.  So fear is an emotion based on what?

It has to be a deeper emotion that is based on the past.  When I say the past, I mean an experience that we have seen or had in our lives.  That experience has set up something deep inside us that has created a fear.

The problem is most fears are totally irrational and unfounded.  The second problem with that is fear can hold us back in multiple aspects of our lives.

Lets say we are thinking about leaving our job and becoming an entrepreneur.  Our family says 'Are you crazy? What if it all goes wrong?... you will have walked away from a great job'.

This is a fear based thought. How can anyone know if it will go wrong?  Yet people's deeper built fear, based on the past not the future tells them... 'Don't do it, it'll be a disaster', despite the fact they cannot know the end result.

So fear factor is destructive. It will stop you doing things in life you might want to do. Fear factor can stop you being a high achiever.  It can stop you being successful.  It can stop you being alive.

Think about this:

Are there things in your life that you haven't done... just in case it goes wrong?  How do you overcome this?  Some will say facing your fears is the best way.  Well it is and can be, but just facing fears does not overcome fear factor.

The best way must be to be absolutely present in the moment.  In simple terms that means... don't worry about the past, the past has gone and should be let go forever or simply held as a memory or experience.  The future hasn't taken place so there is no point in worrying about it.  Being in the moment or present has to be the answer.

Only when you are present in yourself, in your own mind, in your own life, can you succeed in your life.

So did I jump into the Amazon and swim?  Yes of course.  I focused on the fact that if I enjoyed the moment, it would be fine.  It was, even despite seeing alligators looking at me like I could be the ultimate Scottish kebab.

If I had not gone in, I would have lost a moment in my life where the ultimate experience and story of swimming in the Amazon would have been lost forever.  I might have spent the rest of my life saying I wish I had done it.

I did do it.

I am alive.

My fear factor was totally unfounded.

Are you being held back because of fear factor?  Is your fearism really founded on anything solid?  Can you be totally present and remove any fears based on the past or the future?

Can I just add, the media right now are filling you and me with fearism.  They are telling us our lives are going to be a disaster.  Yet the things they say are not based on anything that has yet taken place.  Do you remember the fearism that was the main tool of the media during the turn of the millennium, based on the computer chip?  We were all expecting an armageddon of some kind, based on this new fear.  It never happened.

So what are you scared of?

Does that fear hold you back?

Is that fear based on the past (and the truth is, it won't affect your future)?

Can you face it head on?

I have faced my fears. It's always been fine. Others have as well.

You can overcome anything.

You can.  Will you?

Alan Forrest Smith

Orange Beetle.com

How food becomes belly fat

Watch how your body turns food into fat, expanding your omentum (the 'apron' that hangs off your stomach) and your waistline in this short (01.24 minute) video from Oprah's Dr Oz.  And how much better at human biology would I have been if they'd only had videos like this when I was at school?

The World's 25 Best New Adventures for 2008

Are you up for an adventure before 2008 draws to a close?  If so, check out National Geographic's The World's 25 Best New Adventures for 2008.  All 25 adventures are, apparently, 'innovative, exploratory, action-filled, and guaranteed to change your life'!  Dave Freeman would be proud...

‘100 Things’ co-author Dave Freeman dies at 47

I was saddened to hear that Dave Freeman, the co-author of '100 Things to Do Before You Die', has died at the age of 47 following an accident at his home. 

According to his relatives, Freeman had achieved about half the items on his list before he died.  His co-author of '100 Things', Neil Teplica said, “He didn't have enough days, but he lived them like he should have.”  A fitting epitaph.

10 reasons you're not losing that weight

Could you be screwing up your attempts to lose weight without even realizing it?  By sleeping for less than 7 hours a night, for example?  Or by drinking too little alcohol?  (I've immediately screwed up with those two - try as I might, I can never sleep for longer than 6 hours, and I haven't had a drink since Christmas!) 

Discover the other roadblocks to successful weight loss at 10 Reasons You're Not Losing That Weight. 

Note - This article refers to women's clothing sizes 2 and 6 - these are US sizes. Equivalent UK sizes would be 6 and 10.  (Personally speaking, I'm workings towards being able to fit into a UK Size 12 again - anything less sounds a bit unrealistic and, unless you have a tiny frame, in my opinion, potentially unhealthy.  It's a better strategy to determine your ideal weight and then focus on living at or near that weight.)

100 things to do before you do (plus a few extra...)

If you still haven't got around to drawing up your 'Bucket List', have a look at 100 Things To Do Before You Die to give you some ideas about what you could put on there.  (This Squidoo lens (just another word for website) contains 360 ideas actually, - surely there's something on there for everyone?)

Great Quotes - On making a living

There’s no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love. There is only a scarcity of resolve to make it happen.

Wayne Dyer

Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days

I've mentioned before how I love the idea of incorporating more raw food into my diet, so a video about how a group of people were able to cure themselves of Type 2 Diabetes by eating a raw food diet for 30 days was bound to catch my eye. If you have Type 2 Diabetes or know someone who has, you might be interested in seeing it for yourself:

Money CAN buy you happiness (if you know the right way to spend it)

Although we've always been told that money can't buy you happiness, an increasing number of studies show that, if you know the right way to spend it, money may be able to buy you happiness after all... 

However, as you'll see in this article from Superliving.com, this doesn't involve using money to buy more 'stuff' but, instead, using it to 'facilitate those parts of life most likely to promote happiness' (such as paying someone else to do the jobs that cause conflict between you and your partner, or paying off or reducing debts to help you sleep easier at night).

Great Quotes - On Security

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.  But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful.  There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.

Alan Cohen