5 Quotes to Help You Conquer Your Fears With Halloween upon us, it's time to take a step back and remove the horror of being afraid.
By Adam Toren
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Everywhere you look this month you'll see the signs of Halloween. While this season is a fun time for costumes and theme parties, it's also a good insight into the power that fear can have over us psychologically.
What is it about fear that haunts us? You've seen the thriller movies with the girl running and tripping almost every step, slowing herself down and inevitably contributing to her own demise. Yet, how many times do you do that metaphorically to yourself in your path to success when you succumb to fear? It's a powerful force that can hold you back or drive you forward depending on your ability to deal with it.
Related: Why Fear Is Your Ally in Business
There are times in every entrepreneur's life when fear will be a part of your experience, but don't treat it like a horror flick to be avoided -- seek out fear for the positive things it can bring about in your life.
Here are five quotes about fear that every entrepreneur should know.
Nothing in life is to be feared. It is to be understood. -- Marie Curie
If you start to approach the things you fear, you might find that many of them are things you don't fully appreciate or understand. Sometimes simply reframing the things you're afraid of and coming to learn more about them will change the nature of your fear.
Fight your fears and you'll be in battle forever. Face your fears and you'll be free forever. -- Lucas Jonkman
When you face up to the things that make you most afraid you often find that they aren't as terrifying as you could've imagined. Often a fear of heights can be overcome by facing it. Other times fear of failure can be defeated by facing your own defeat and learning first hand that it isn't fatal. Take the time to face your fears and give up battling them.
Related: 3 Ways to Overcome Fear Immediately
We should all start to live before we get too old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets. -- Marilyn Monroe
Leave it to Marilyn to teach us that we should live while we're alive. Yes, maybe your fears feel more serious than "stupid," but the essence of the message is that whatever holds you back from experiencing a full spectrum of your own life really isn't worth your time. If fear is holding you back from living, then it's time to let go.
Do the thing you fear, and continue to do so. This is the quickest and surest way of all victory over fear. -- Dale Carnegie
Much like the earlier quote says, simply facing your fear by doing it is one of the surest ways to beat it. In business, this can mean a lot of things for you. Perhaps it's your fear of approaching venture capitalists, or maybe it's your fear of hiring your first employee. Only you know what fears are unique to you, but the surest way to overcome them is to face them, make a decision and to experience the results.
Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out. -- Benjamin Franklin
There's a great truth that no is never final and failure is never fatal. You can overcome whatever obstacles are ahead of you that are causing you to fear moving forward. What Franklin says is perhaps the best way to think about fear, not as a thing to worry over, but to know that failures are a certainty in life but that you can choose to keep going forward toward your dreams and successes.
Related: It's Good to Feel Stupid: 5 Thoughts on Overcoming Fear and Self-Doubt
