One of the most common setbacks on the path to personal growth is dealing with a fear of the unknown. Growth means that some change is inevitable, and if you’re afraid of not knowing what the changes will bring, it’s really easy to allow yourself to stay stuck. Part of what we need to learn, then, in order to advance our own personal growth is how to conquer this fear.

One of the first steps in conquering fear is to understand exactly what it is, and the effect it has on us. While fear can be defined in many ways, the most straightforward explanation is that it is an emotional reaction to impending danger or unfamiliar situations. We experience this reaction on both psychological and physical levels at the same time. For example, you might feel anxious, overwhelmed, or even terrified at the same time your heart is pounding and you have a hard time catching your breath. If you’re anything like me, your stomach gets all tangled up in knots, and you start feeling cold and clammy as well.

A lot of the fear that we experience as adults can have its roots in childhood experiences. Mental and physical abuse, or unrealistic expectations put on us as children can cause us to develop fears that stick with us through adulthood. Unless we can overcome them, they can — and will — have a significant impact on our lives, especially when it comes to self confidence and the ability to live up to our full potential.

So just how to we overcome our fear change and the unknown that it brings?

One strategy you can use to help overcome fear is to learn to recognized when you are feeling fearful. When you know that what you are experiencing is fear, you are more apt to try and discover what’s causing it. You may need to take a close look at your life experiences in order to find the underlying cause, and that can be a pretty terrifying process on its own.

You really do need to figure out what causes you to feel fearful though, because once you’ve accepted your fear and you know what causes it, you’re ready for the grand finale — facing your fear.

What’s that saying… feel the fear and do it anyways… or something along those lines?

Push yourself outside your comfort zone, and confront your fear head-on. You can stretch your boundaries a little at a time. You don’t have to conquer your fears all in one go. But by taking the steps to overcome your fear of the unknown, you will open yourself up to new experiences and feelings with a sense of freedom you would never otherwise have.

Photo Credit: sxc.hu

So there’s about 90 minutes to go until the new year begins here. I was going to do one of those really cheesy end of the year posts, but I just can’t bring myself to write one. Lucky you, eh.

One thing I did want to do is mention that for the woman whose home we were trying to save before Christmas (see A Christmas Story in the Making), the goal was met. In a truly beautiful symphony of teamwork and togetherness, the members of the Warrior Forum raised enough through sales and donations to help Tina save her home. I really do love happy endings.

I love happy beginnings to, and will be posting something tomorrow about that.

For now, I want to wish you all the love, laughter, peace, and prosperity you can handle and then some. May all your dreams come true in the coming year.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me.

Love ya,
Lena

So, it’s time for changes again. And yeah, I’m probably starting to sound like a broken record on this but I am so determined to have a better 2009 and to make some serious changes in my own life.

One of the reasons that I’ve never had a lot of success in making changes stick is the way I prepared for them. I was always in the new year’s resolution mindset of I’ll try this, start on New Year’s Day, and if it works fine, and if not there’s always next year. This year I already have a written plan, and goals set out for both the personal and business sides of my life. And I’m not waiting until Thursday to start.

Tomorrow we’ll be starting a major purge and declutter session here. One of my main goals for 2009 is to complete a cross-country move. And there’s no way I’m carting everything I’ve got hoarded up here 2000 miles. We went to Home Depot yesterday and grabbed some big plastic packing bins to put the stuff in that we’ll take with us, but that isn’t absolutely necessary for living right now. We’re stocked up on recycling bags and trash bags for the stuff that’s getting thrown out, and I’ve got boxes here to store stuff in that’s going up on E-bay over the next few days. I’m prepared for change this year, and prepared to take action to make sure it all happens.

Once our cleaning and decluttering is done, all the desks are getting rearranged. My big 3-sided office station is getting broken down into two parts. One for my son’s room, and one for mine. I find trying to write out here with the tv and other distractions really hard to do. I’ve wanted a desk in my bedroom for the actual pen and paper portion of my writing process for ages, and am finally going to have it by the end of this week. Another of my goals is this year is to write a novel, and by moving these desks around I’ll have a place to write where I can actually go and shut the door.

I’m really excited by the prospect of a new year and a new life… Bet ya couldn’t tell, could ya?

What about you? Are you making any changes in the new year, and are you prepared for them?