In our last +1, we talked about conquering fear. Specifically, we soaked our minds in Stan Beecham’s epic wisdom that’s worth tattooing on our consciousness: “Fear is keeping you from reaching your potential. Conquering fear should be your primary goal in life.”

btw: Speaking of soaking, how about this Marcus Aurelius gem:

“Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts. Soak it then in such trains of thoughts as, for example: Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible.”

← Wow.

Today I want to step back and talk more about conquering fear. We ended our last +1 with a pom-pom waving “Let’s conquer fear!” call to action, but without a lot of practical guidance on how to do it.

Which is fine, because the point of that +1 was to establish the importance of prioritizing your efforts to conquer fear. Now we’re (almost!) ready for some nuts and bolts on HOW to conquer fear.

But…

Before we jump into that I want to step back for a moment and take another trip down Etymology Lane as I believe that will give us the proper mindset with which it map out our plan of attack.

Get this.

Do you know what the word “conquer” literally means?

Our dictionary says that the word means to “successfully overcome (a problem or weakness)” as in “a fear she never managed to conquer.”

It’s from the Latin word conquirere that means to “gain” or “win” which is from two little Latin words con- “expressing completion” + quaerere “to seek.”

It’s on that very last word that I want to focus.

The root of the word CONQUER comes from a Latin word that means ”to seek.”

Isn’t that fascinating?!

When I read that I was like (goosebumps), “Wow. If we want to CONQUER fear then the first step is TO SEEK IT.” (More goosebumps.)

Think about that for a moment longer.

Today’s +1.

What do YOU do when you experience fear?

Do you “seek” it or do you run away from it?

There’s a reason why psychologists tell us that the healthiest among us have an “approach” style of dealing with stressors rather than an “avoidance” style. And why “Bring it on!!” is Tool #1.

I repeat: Our infinite potential exists on the other side of our comfort zones. Being outside our comfort zones feels, by definition (!!), uncomfortable.

Yet…

That fear we feel as we lean outside our comfort zones?

If we want to conquer it, we must first seek it.

Carry on, my seeker friend.

To Seek Fear #687

Is Step 1 in Conquering Fear

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