IF YOU’RE STILL BREATHING, YOU’RE OKAY!

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”— Nelson Mandela

Since I’ve started writing about the topic of fear as a teacher of life, I came across tons of literature on how to conquer fear—all different, yet all the same. They repeated almost the same messages— “underneath fear lies the greatest opportunities”, and “if you did the things that scared you the most, you would overcome that which stands between you and what you have always wanted to be.”

However, I was never convinced that this was the right approach to fearlessness…

In my view, conquering fear requires you to have the fearless spirit of a conqueror. And only if you understood life better, would you fear it less. After all, fearlessness is not about losing fear, but about finding your way through it.

As I understand it, fear originates from uncertainty—if it did not, then you would be impervious to it. This is why I believe that action, rather than inaction, could be a cure from it.

I remember listening to motivational speaker Tony Robbins while explaining how fear could create unnecessary stress in the mind. Then he described how to get rid of it when that happens. He thought of fear as an overload of stress, and when billionaires all over the world sought his advice about how to conquer it, he dug deeper into their souls, until he uncovered the hidden roots of their problems.

If I remember correctly, what he said was that whenever he followed their trail of stress, it led him straight to their deepest fears. In conveying that, he considered life as a dance between what one desires the most and what one fears the most. And since the brain was designed for survival rather than happiness, it is up to the person to decide its fate.

Hence, his answer to fear was simple—train the mind to acquire a new set of habits, allow it to be entertained by them, and you will realize that you are more than just your mind. In other words, it is the harnessing of fear that leads people to astound themselves.

But if that was the case, then why are people constantly reminded that fear is the source of all their emotional problems? Why are people always told that fear is the enemy? And why are they systematically reminded of their vulnerabilities—failure, loneliness, dying, grief, traumas, nervousness, anxiety, HIV, and other catastrophic events?

In other words, why are people made to believe that everyone around them is watching their every move, and scrutinizing their every word? Why do they censor their words to avoid the risk of embarrassment? Why do they avoid speaking in public out of fear of sounding uninformed? And why do they suppress their real thoughts, while they elevate the imagined ones of others?

All these burning questions led me to one conclusion—to conquer fear, people must create in their minds an immune state of their worst fears. And when they choose the lives they want to live once their worst fears come true, contentment will ensue... and all else will be a pure bonus.

Once that happens, they start giving and loving without expectations, knowing that what is been given to them was never theirs to keep anyway. And if they did that, they would acquire the ability to deeply love something, and yet be satisfied without it... both at the same time.

This may seem hard to grasp, but please look at it this way...

Life is nothing but a loan, an endowment that you have been entrusted with. Therefore, you have no other choice but to respond with dignity, when life hands you its unique blend of the worst... and what could be worse than fear?

So, the next time fear looks you squarely in the eye, ask yourself the question: “Will this be the end of me, or will I be okay?”

And my simple answer to that: “If you’re still breathing... you’re okay!”

A little about me

Author of the best-selling books in their own, self-help category, The Art and Science of Floatation (2019), The Lions and the Wolves (2019), and The Hidden Temple (2020), I am a former business editor, special correspondent, and award-winning journalist.

For my work in journalism, I was presented with the Pan-Asia Journalism Award by Citicorp, in association with the Columbia University in New York back in 1994. For that, I've been listed in the Millennium special edition of the Marquis Who's Who in the World in the year 2000.

My academic background consists of two Master's degrees, one in Business-Economics from the American University of Beirut, and the other in Marketing and Commerce from the University of Sydney.

Apart from being an award-winning writer and published book author, I am also a life teacher. Through my Transcendental Re-engineering (TR) technique, I help people break through the obstacles that hold them back in life. I also use my Organizational Re-engineering (OR) strategies to assist small businesses develop better ways to survive, especially in our current changing times and challenging environments.