How To Overcome Fear, Timidity & Self Pity

As a boy I struggled with all three of these giants.

They particularly played a dominant role in my life when I was nine years old and my parents decided to invite a twelve-year-old boy to live with us.

Being super-athletic, on the very first day he attended my school, he was challenged to race the fastest boy in the school. With mixed feelings I celebrated the fact that the boy who had just moved into our house was now the toast of the school and faster than the fastest.

He could swim (which I struggled with and in fact nearly drowned in a twenty five meter swimming race in front of a crowd of onlookers), he could run fast, he could jump high, he could play any sport, was clever with his hands and could make anything. It appeared that he could do everything that I couldn’t.

So all in all I, as the boy who played the piano, and who always came last in running races, I found myself shrinking more and more back into my shell.

But after three years the star left our home and I was once again able to come out from under his bright and shining light that had cast such a shadow over my life.

So What Next?

I overcame fear through action. There was no other cure.

I destroyed timidity by placing myself in situations where I was forced to oil my wheels of self-confidence. At times I made myself vulnerable and even fallible. It made me stronger no matter the results.

And lastly, when it came to self-pity I stopped feeling sorry for myself. I stood in front of the mirror and spoke to myself sternly. At the same time I listed all the things that I could be grateful for. I focused on my strengths, not my weaknesses.

So What Now?

These lessons, which I learnt as a boy, are the very same lessons that I have needed to repeat as an adult, for those giants of fear, timidity and self pity have reared their ugly heads time and time again throughout my life in many different forms.

So what have I done to defeat them time and time again?

Living Life As An Overcomer

Apply these following three steps and watch victory become your companion.

1. Action cures fear. That’s right. If you sit around and wallow in your fear then nothing will ever change. Lift a finger. Speak a word. Do something, no matter how minuscule it might seem to you and watch how courage will be infused into your being to do even more.

2. Stand tall. Speak Confidently. Act confidently. Walk confidently. Put a smile on your face and watch timidity leave.

3. Replace self-pity with an attitude of gratitude. Count your blessings and stop whining. Refuse to feel sorry for yourself. Help others.

So there you have it. You have all that you need to live a victorious life.

And while we’re here please share with us how you have defeated these three giants in your day-to-day life.