SELF-IMPROVEMENT
How Can You Let Your Heart do the Talking in the Face of Fear?
Day 50, 50 questions for deep self-reflection
Trigger Warning: Psychological exploration and personal growth — everything here is a reflection of self only. If you are triggered, please stop reading immediately. Always put your own mental health first!
What is fear? Is it being triggered? Is it physical or emotional? Is it confusion? Is it all of the above? However you see fear, the real question is, how do you not lose yourself to it? How can you remain true to yourself and not get lost in that fear? How can you thrive and remain unapologetically, YOU?
This is day 50 of the 50 Questions for Deep Self-Reflection challenge from Know Thyself Heal Thyself created by Diana C.
DAY FIFTY: How can you let your heart do the talking in the face of fear?
We Made It!
Here we are — Day 50. Day 1: Trauma Police, was posted on September 28, 2021. It’s taken me over 17 months to get there but no one can argue my tenacity.
And boy, are we finishing this one off with a bang!
How can you let your heart do the talking in the face of fear?
Embrace the Glitch!
When I read this, I instantly glitched. So this should be fun. Okay, what is this question really asking or what do I perceive that it’s asking?
I guess for me, it’s asking, how can I trust my own intuition. And how can I let that intuitive understanding come through even when I’m experiencing a moment of trauma, when I’m triggered, or in any kind of state of fear (physical or emotional)?
That little brain dump rattled loose a few words that are clearly designed in my own perception.
How can I let my truest self through when I’m feeling triggered to put the mask back on?
OOF! Right in the truth! Ouch.
Bringing it All Together Now
Like an exam or final project, this question invites an accumulative understanding of all the days that preceded it. But of course, it does, because how I would have answered this question on day 1 is very different from how I’m answering today after much growth and reflection through this challenge, but also through my own external journey with therapy, etc.
But I digress, which is something that I do in the face of fear. Oh, isn’t that interesting? Hmm, good. Good insight. So, what is the fear or the trigger that I’m feeling right now?
That of not knowing?
That of not getting it right?
That have not been good enough?
All of those, and more.
Ultimately, at this moment, in the face of those fears, I can feel it is about giving up authenticity in preference of entertaining or appeasing others. Well, isn’t that fucking stupid? You would think I’d have learned more than that over 50 challenges of self-reflection.
This question is a great way to reflect on that awareness. Well then, I have my answer already, don’t I?
How can you let your heart do the talking in the face of fear?
- By not caring with attachment (an important distinction) about what you (the readers) think about what I say or do
- By listening to what I want and what I feel and knowing that I can’t please everyone and that’s okay
People-Pleaser’s Recovery is a Journey
In fact, knowing I can’t please everyone is more than okay. It’s fantastic! Why would I want to please everyone? Why would I want everyone to be the same? That’d be so damn boring.
Another interesting realization just hit me smack in the forehead. How I’ve responded to these questions has focused on allowing my heart to do the talking in the face of fear. Because although I wrote these with the intention to publish them with the understanding that other people may read them, in the space of answering the questions, it’s just me and a microphone. It’s me trusting myself (and my own intuition) to speak my truth, whatever that looks like on paper.
50 Days and I’m Still a WIP
So, there you have it, folks. Day 50 and my lesson is to stop caring so much about what other people think. If I go back to day one and my lessons there, really, it’s the same thing. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t grown. All of these questions, all of these deep dives, have come down to this: finding self-love and accepting self because nobody else can do those things for me. Nobody else can do those things for you.
That’s a 50 Day Challenge Wrap
Thanks for taking this journey with me over the 50-day challenge and if you missed any, or if this is the first one you’ve read, I’ve collected all the posts here for you:
Now, I’m off to work out what I’m going to replace this with! Suggestions welcome.
Fear can mean many things. The only thing that matters is, what it means to you and how can you allow yourself to be truly who you were born to be in spite of that fear. Or perhaps, while embracing that fear. Ultimately, the real question is, does fear control you? Or do you allow fear to be an opportunity to grow?
If you are interested in the journey so far — all the days that came before, I’ve collected all the article links here: