F.E.A.R.
My music history teacher is sort of a jack-of-all-trades. You would think that as a music teacher, and a terrific marching band instructor, that all he would be knowledgeable about would be music. The truth is that while he does know a lot about music, its history, and its effect on people, he is also very intelligent in other areas. One of the things that he emphasizes is mental health, detailing the stress and anxiety that he’s seen in the lives of his students and other students around the school. I think he could probably teach dozens of lectures on the topic of anxiety alone.
One of the things that he said to us once stood out to me. He told us that fear gives us two options, which boil down to two acronyms created by author Zig Ziglar:
Forget
Everything
And
Run
or
Face
Everything
And
Rise
It was no coincidence that the first marching band show my school performed after the COVID-19 pandemic was called “Rise”. My music teacher wanted to send the message, not only to his band, but also to his audience that they have two decisions, to run away from their worries and their anxieties, or to face them by acknowledging that everything will be okay. But even he recognized that this is a tough task for many people. Many of us think that “once I get past this” or “once this gets fixed” everything will be alright and they will no longer have any worries. This is untrue. New worries will pop up as life goes on. So what do we do about them?
Without getting into anything tangible, know this: worry is spending time and energy thinking about something that hasn’t happened yet. Moreover, worry is often irrational. This isn’t to say that the things causing your worry aren’t difficult or important. However, all that worry does is take you on an alternate route that leads to nowhere. Instead of forgetting everything and running down that alternate route, stand your ground. You are more capable than you think.
So many times in life we like to take the easy route. We like things to be simple and comfortable, but when change sweeps in, we become afraid. We don’t like what happened and we don’t think we can handle it. The truth is that fear prevents growth. The change that enters your life is inviting a challenge that you can either
Run away from or
Face and grow from
That old phrase that says “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is very true. We face a variety of challenges in our life that can push us to our limit. And if we’re willing to face this adversity, we can grow and develop into the best version of ourselves that we can be. Don’t give in to fear. Instead, RISE.
Challenges/Points:
Fear gives us two choices: to run away or to rise to the challenge.
Worry leads nowhere.
Facing our worries and anxieties allows us to grow as individuals.
Questions:
What’s been causing you to worry?
Have you expressed your anxieties to others? Do they share some of the same stressors?
Are your worries rational? What’s the worst thing that can happen and is it likely to happen?
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