Ways to Stay Safe and Small
In my journey (which seems to have more turns around each corner) of fear fighting (Enneagram 7’s are particularly afraid, but we all have plenty of fear to fight in our own ways), I’m starting to see the fear of loss, failure, or disaster often pales in comparison to the fear of stepping into a bigger, more purposeful story.
Here are a few ways fear coddles us into safe, small stories:
– Whispers that it’s not worth the effort, vulnerability, exposure, or risk
– Reminds us that we’re full of shit
– Encourages us to retreat, withhold, and withdraw
– Tells us we don’t have what it takes
– Warns us that we can’t handle the good parts of power, influence, or impact
– Tells us we’re bad, flawed, broken, and deficient
– Fill us with negative and critical self talk
– Dismisses today’s small, tiny actions today for some mythical future big bang of motivation and progress
The inverse of these soul restrictions is true as well, of course.
The fear, when we let it keep calling the shots, keeps us feeling all safe and warm.
Trapped in a small box of imprisonment.
While a big story awaits.
That’s if we’re willing to blow the box top off, and step out of the shadows, and into fullness.
Fear’s whispers don’t seem so illustrious out there.
