Have you ever had trouble sleeping a night? Have you ever had trouble due to racing thoughts about what might or might not happen? There are countless things that we can find to worry about or fear. Many things we worry about we have no control over anyway, so, what’s the point!?
My faith in Jesus Christ puts a great deal of fears and worries to rest, as He is in control of all things and I can be sure whatever the outcome will be for my good. If you do not have this peace, I would be happy to talk with you more about that.
What can fear, worry, and preparedness teach us about our safety? Well, I’m glad you ask!
Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real: A great, and profound acronym. The things we fear are generally unknown, or fabricated. As a child, we fear the creatures under our bed, or the dark. As adults we fear losing our job, or house, or maybe even death. All of these things are unknown to us. We may fear our house being broken into while we sleep, or being attacked. These are valid concerns, but, should we live in fear of them? NO!
Worry: Sorry, no cool acronym for this one; just truth. Worry is the thing that keeps us up at night, tossing and turning. Worrying about how we will pay the bills, our health, our children, etc. Worry is a perpetual state of cognitive involvement into a fear. Where fear is being afraid of a particular circumstance. We fear losing our house; we worry about how we will make the house payment. Make sense?
Preparedness: My favorite, and by far the most productive. The amount of time we spend worrying and in fear could be spent making a plan and being prepared to overcome such fears. For example: Say you are going on a vacation to Europe. Your fear is getting sick while there. You worry about missing your flight. You can prepare yourself by getting vaccinations, and packing a few days in advance using a checklist to ensure that you are well prepared. This physical action of packing and vaccinating helps our mental state. We now know that we are physically prepared to encounter any difficulties we may encounter.
I have spent a great deal of time worrying about things. However, I have been blessed to have people much wiser than I in my life. Some advice I have received along the way includes to following solutions to worry: Write them down, talk with someone about your concerns, confront your worries/fears, and finally take action against them.
We carry guns and train with them because we fear or worry about being robbed, raped, killed, etc. For whatever reason you carry I am positive I can relate it to a fear. “But, wait. You have been talking about removing fear and worry!” Yes, yes I have. Let me put it this way. You fear failing the big exam in school right? What is the best way to overcome that fear? Study! Once you have prepared yourself as much as you think you can, you walk into the exam room with confidence and nail it. The same goes for defense. I do not fear the same things I used to, because I have taken action against those fears.
Confession time: I feared my wife driving, especially with my other baby girl in the back seat. I was not concerned with her driving, but the other buffoons on the roadway. So, I decided to start letting her drive when we go places. This has revealed to me how competent and confident she is driving. I no longer fear her heading out to the open road!
Fear and worry is not only a waste of time, it takes an emotional and physical toll on our body. I’m not going to lie, preparedness is the motive of this writing. I cannot stress enough the importance of preparedness; not only from the self defense aspect, but from your overall health and safety. We must prepare ourselves for as many eventualities as possible. This is an ongoing process and something that can be done overnight.
I leave you with this: One day, as I was slipping my holster on my wife rolled her eyes, scoffed and said: “Are you really wearing a gun to this? You are so paranoid.” My response: “I am not paranoid, I am prepared. I do not fear a guy mugging me as I turn a corner, I am prepared for it. Does keeping a fire extinguisher under the sink make me paranoid about a fire? No, it makes me prudent and prepared.”
What can we learn?
Worrying about things is an utter waste of time!
Fears, even if legitimate are surmountable and should never paralyze you.
Preparedness is key. In every aspect of life we must be prepared. Home, work, self defense, and so on. Nothing in life can be successfully completed unless we are prepared
Get training, and keep it up!
Being prepared does not make you paranoid being crippled by fear and worry does.
Stay Sharp,
Adam