Overcoming My Fears, Overcoming My What Ifs

Article in brief: The author believes that in order to live a long happy life, you should face your fears. 

What if?  What if, is something I always hear and read about. People usually live by them and don’t explore what that ‘what if‘ could be.

I view that act as selfish. Yes, by doing that you are being selfish towards your own self, you might be depriving yourself from something great. Isn’t everyone about the You Only Live Once mantra nowadays? Then how about they actually live by it!

That statement is completely correct, you truly only live once, so the proper thing to do is to abandon all the ‘what ifs’ and find out what actually happens. Let’s put a worst case scenario out there; you’ll either fail or embarrass yourself. Honestly speaking, to me, getting embarrassed or failing is way better than having a restless mind; at least I would know what would happen and I will stop wondering.

I don’t usually live on what ifs but I’m only human, and sadly, a situation occurred and I fell as a victim for months. A dear friend of mine betrayed my trust and I was afraid of confrontation. Not knowing the reason behind that heinous act haunted me. Nothing is as bad as unspoken words hidden by a layer of embarrassment. I knew that I needed to get things off my chest, but I couldn’t. I truly pitied myself at that time.

I couldn’t discover what was beneath that ‘what if’ because I was holding myself for no rational reason whatsoever. However, I couldn’t until a while back. I decided not to let fears and ‘what ifs’ control me. I think if you want something and wonder how life would be with it then just go do it! It’s as simple as that; only then will you get rid of cowardice.

I knew that I needed to get out of that dark place and face my fear; making a fool out of myself. I dropped the ‘what if’ attitude and just did it. I confronted that friend and demanded that I get provided with satisfying answers to justify that hurtful act, and at that moment, I felt invincible.

My heart was pounding so heavily during that confrontation, and my head was telling me to drop it and let it go, but deep down I knew that by abandoning that infuriating ‘what if’ I was going to get my given right. I got closure and I didn’t make a fool of myself. I feared that my supposed friend would think that I was pathetic, but instead I was given an answer and an apology. I act upon my heart, being logical and rational will only get me so far.

Sadly, we are people who are taken over by our fears. We let them manipulate us and toy with us. We often let them shred us and take control of us. They usually stop us from doing what we actually want; what we desire in life.

Getting rid of what’s holding you back is what is going to make you live a meaningful life. I’m not asking you to be fearless, that’s impossible as we’ve all got hidden fears, I’m only asking you to live life to the fullest.

We should control ourselves and quit the craft of making up scenarios in our head. We should make a move and attempt to make one of those endless scenarios that we dream of come true.

There’s more to life than wondering and dreaming about what could’ve been. Who wants to waste their life in such a manner? This is a plea from me to you dear readers to do something about your fears and face all the consequences that may occur after letting go of that ‘what if’. We live and forget, facing our fears will only make us happier.