Turn Your Fear into Fuel: Breaking Through the Terror Barrier to Achieve Your Dreams
Have you found yourself on the verge of a goal becoming a reality or a dream fulfilled, only to back away because you felt some anxiety, stress, or what I call an annoying “buzz in the body”?
Many people interpret this feeling or any obstacles that arise as signals that they should not go further, believing there is danger ahead. Perhaps they feel like God is telling them not to proceed. Now, I’m not talking about a gut knowing that something is off or a clear impression from the Spirit to stop. I’m talking about what my friend Leslie Householder (bestselling author of The Jackrabbit Factor: Why You Can) calls a “terror barrier,” which is a natural occurrence along the path to success.
Terror Barriers and the Lizard Brain
Seth Godin calls the part of our subconscious mind that wants to keep us safe the “lizard brain” because it’s an early man conditioning that sees change as danger. In ancient times, putting yourself in a position to fail, to be ridiculed, or judged meant being ostracized from the tribe. If you’re cast out of your tribe, you’re as good as dead. But that isn’t the case for us in our modern world. Few of us need to take actions on the journey to our dreams that are life or death. But our subconscious thinks it is. Possibilities for embarrassment, shame, humiliation, or failure all make the Lizard Brain scream, “You’re gonna get us killed! Stop! Go back to the safe and known!”
This is what happens at a terror barrier. You can push through terror barriers by visualizing yourself on the other side, with your goal or dream achieved. Feel it, see it, sense it ahead of time, and you will eventually be able to override the negative thoughts, feelings, and doubts. But in the end, you must act despite the fear or anxiety.
I love a talk by Jeffrey R. Holland called “Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence.” In it, he says,
“Yes, there are cautions and considerations to make, but once there has been genuine illumination, beware the temptation to retreat from a good thing. If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now. Don’t give up when the pressure mounts.”
Jeffrey R. Holland, “Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence”
My motto is “Feel the fear and do it anyway.” I will have been in business for 35 years in May. And in those years, I have learned one powerful way to go through terror barriers. That is to interpret the buzz in my body as rocket fuel to take me to my destination. Instead of reading it as a message to fight, take flight, or freeze, I see it as fuel and resources I can harness to take action and succeed!
Brain Chemicals Are Your Rocket Fuel
Think about it: when the subconscious decides you’re in danger, it signals the brain to pour the chemicals below into the body. Yes, they have their downsides, but they are also rocket fuel to help you succeed:
- Adrenaline (Epinephrine) increases your heart rate and blood pressure, dilates airways for more oxygen, boosts energy by increasing glucose in the blood, and heightens your awareness.
- Noradrenaline (Norepinephrine) increases focus and readiness and heightens alertness.
- Cortisol mobilizes energy stores, enhances the effects of adrenaline, and helps the body deal with long-term stress.
- Glucose (blood sugar) provides immediate energy for the muscles and brain.
- Dopamine helps motivate and initiate action.
You Choose How to Use These Chemicals!
You have a choice. You can utilize these chemicals to fight, take flight, or freeze, or you can use them to propel you into action toward your goals! These chemicals are a gift, giving you the capacity to achieve your goals.
When I feel these feelings, and I’m certain there is no valid danger, I take action toward my goals. One action leads to another, and I’m off and running toward success.
There is one other thing I do to manage these chemicals so they don’t build up in my body, and that is EXERCISE! If you’re not a gym person, WALK. Burn off the excess jet fuel by physically moving your body. Walking is a simple thing anyone can do. And if you can walk in nature, all the better because it naturally calms the nervous system.
More Ideas for Dealing with Terror Barriers
A few other things that help are to address the fears of success and failure that you may be experiencing. What is it exactly that you are afraid will happen? Is it valid?
Second, release the build-up of past frustrations, failures, or conditioning that have made you feel like you cannot go forward. The brain sees patterns and attempts to repeat them. You need a pattern interrupt by releasing the memories and emotions associated with unwanted outcomes of the past.
Third, you may even have generational coding in your DNA (cellular memory) that can be released. You may be responding to something that isn’t even yours! It could be because your ancestors lost everything they had in the Great Potato Famine in Ireland or the Great Depression, and you feel the need to play it safe.
All of these and more can be addressed with the SimplyALIGN Method™ I’m certified in. If you’re ready to push through your own terror barriers and turn your “buzz” into rocket fuel, check out my weekly Flow & Grow Sessions. Learn more here!
Featured Image Copyright: Bigstock.com/ PathDoc
