Becoming constantly fearful has the potential to paralyze you. And this scaremongering is ever-present most especially in the media.
In this episode, I am going to share a story of how a very close friend of mine is now almost paralyzed by fear because of exposing himself to the daily news on TV. Learn the negative effects of fear if we let it rule over our lives and how to change mindsets in order to break free from being constantly fearful.
Overview & Episode Content
- Do Not Allow Yourself to Become Fearful All Your Life
- Being Fearful Affects Your Relationship with Family and Friends
- Fearfulness Leads to Paralysis
- Be Wary of People Who Profit from Your Fearfulness
- Do Not Let Fear Kill Your Creativity
Do Not Allow Yourself to Become Fearful All Your Life
I have a friend who is near and dear to me. He has a lot of hidden talents in general. For a long time, he has been able to use those talents in various ways to make money for himself and his family.
Now, what is very unique about him is that whenever I see him, he would be engrossed with the news of some sort. He watches the news several hours a day.
And that’s absolutely fine, but the news is usually something about how evil and horrible the president is. And if it’s not about President Trump, it’s about whatever is wrong with the world. It might be Coronavirus, SARS, H1N1, bird flu, swine flu, mad cow disease, etc… It might be one of those things. And he watches this stuff for several hours a day.
Whenever I see him — I visit him and we talk — the conversation inevitably turns to one of those doomsday topics. Whether it’s political, economic, health — whatever it might be. it is always about the end of the world.
Of course, we would talk about family and business but for the last two decades, these topics about the impending doom echoes and repeats over and over again. The fearfulness would creep in our conversations.
Personally, I don’t care much about the bad news. Right now, I care more about my chickens and cat houses. So, that’s what I tell him, “I don’t care.”
And every time I say that he tells me, “Well, just pay attention. You just have to be informed. You have to know what’s going on in the world around you.”
And he is right! But you have to be careful. You must not let the negativity and fear consume your life.
Being Fearful Affects Your Relationships with Family and Friends
The media’s fear-mongering did not only affect just him. It also crept into his relationships with family and friends.
How did that happen? Every day, he sits in front of the news growing fearful instead of building, growing, and being productive. Trust me, I used to fall for this a lot. I used to watch so much television before — an hour of programming every day!
Now, you might be thinking “Dean, come on. Coronavirus. That’s not nonsense.”
Exactly, the Coronavirus is not nonsense. That is a real thing. But the fact is, we are getting fed with a daily dose of fear by the media. And his exposure to the media’s scare-mongering has severely affected a lot of his interaction with family and friends.
Now, I would not say that the reports are totally fake. But a lot of the time, they really are. The news has to have something. There have been several times where I have traveled to places where it was supposed to be dangerous according to the news. But I got to travel to some of those places through some amazingly smoking deals. And, it was not at all as terrible as the media said.
Fearfulness Leads to Paralysis
I noticed every time I visit him that he is almost paralyzed because of his fearfulness. It affected his choices in travel, food, and speech. It even affected his relationships!
When I was younger, I used to be the same way too. I used to think we were going to get nuked by Russia because we have these intercontinental ballistic missiles and worrying about the earthquake taking out half of California on the San Andreas Fault. Or how we could get lost in The Bermuda Triangle.
I used to get so fearful about so many things and it would keep me from doing certain things whether it is directly or indirectly. That is definitely not a fun place to be when your choices in life are inhibited due to fear.
So why is this important? It is important because as business people, husbands, and wives, as people who are building legacies, we have to be very careful what type of fear we bring into our world and into our minds.
The fact is, there are a lot of people who live off of fear. And there are a lot of people who make a lot of money off of fear.
Be Wary of People Who Profit from Your Fearfulness
These days, it is a very good time for the Corona Extra brand now that this virus has come out. It is also a very good time from a medical and pharmaceutical sales point of view to have masks and other personal protective equipment. As a matter of fact, I even have some friends who have jumped on board of that bandwagon and have been making money right now.
Of course, there are people who profit from fear. There are governmental organizations that profit off of fear. For example, the whole “this day and age with terrorism” keeps a lot of governmental organizations alive. And that’s just the way it is.
The world would be a better place if terrorism went away as it did in the past when it was not that big of a deal. I mean, it was somewhat there but not enough to have the TSA and Homeland Security.
So, if terrorism is completely eradicated now, are you going to tell all of the TSA and Homeland Security, “Hey, your jobs are gone.”
I doubt people would want to do that in the first place. It is very rough to say, “Go find another job.”
Do Not Let Fear Kill Your Creativity
The more that you are afraid, the less you create and the less you build. You want to be constantly building your legacy.
I too have fears every day. Every single day, I have customers who come in and cancel business with me. Sometimes, I have customers who have issues with me. But, I am always mindful of how I respond to all of that because it directly affects my business.
And so, if I was constantly afraid — which I was for a long time with my business — everything was going to come crashing down. I would not be able to keep building. I would find an excuse to go drink or play games all day. That is the point of fear. It is there to paralyze you and make you feel worthless. Fear can find so many ways to make you stop doing work.
Now, if you look back on the things that you were afraid of — SARS, swine flu, and H1N1. When you look back on the Bermuda Triangle, nuclear war, and all of that, how much of that actually touched you or affected you directly?
Pretty much a very low percentage of people were affected by any of those events. And there has not been a nuclear bomb detonated since World War Two! So, what are you even afraid of right now?
Conclusion
Rather than saying, “I’m gonna stop being afraid. I’m gonna stop being afraid of this thing.”
I want you to do something instead. Why don’t you continue building your legacy? Create something that will take you to the next level!
Resources and Links
If you like this episode, visit FreedomInFiveMinutes.com for more, and if you’re looking to hire your next Virtual Systems Architect, check out ProSulum.com for more details.
This has been Dean Soto of Freedom In Five Minutes Podcast and I will see you in the next Freedom In Five Minutes Podcast episode.