In this day and age, we are surrounded by opportunities. There was a time, not too long ago, when the son of a farmer would grow up to be a farmer, and the son of a businessman to be a businessman. There were not so many opportunities in the previous era, to begin with. Now, it’s a different story. The modern age has changed society. The fact that the father doesn’t know programming doesn’t mean that the son will not learn it.
There are pros and cons to both systems. A major advantage of the old way was the fact that the son didn’t struggle to choose the career that he would pursue, it was already chosen for him. For some, this is an advantage, but for others, this is the greatest tragedy. The old way forces you to be a reflection of your forefathers and not of yourself. Now more often than ever, everyone chooses their own career. They will be the ones to choose what skills they need to have in their arsenals, where they want to go, and what they want to do.
With that being said, the fact that we have to be the ones to choose for ourselves in our society creates confusion, an imbalance in our minds which is the predominant cause of the fear of failure. An example of this is if you want to start a new business, one of the fundamental reasons that you will never start the business in the first place is mostly due to the fear of failing. The constant thought that you are bombarded by says “what if I fail? What will happen to my family?” These thoughts can be persistent. A student might think “what if I do this course and there are no jobs for me?” Let me be clear, there are always some genuine concerns before starting something new. But if you are honest with yourself, those can be blurred out pretty easily.
Fear of failure is not the only thing that stops progress, many times it’s the fear of something else that will come between you and your success. You can be afraid of many things, for example, fear of embarrassment because of personal appearance, fear of things beyond your control, fear of being single, fear of what others might think of you. Many times the only thing stopping us to do something is fear. Once you understand that you’re afraid, you need to figure out how to cure your fear. A physician discovers that you have an infection, he won’t stop there, will he? He will proceed with the treatment to cure the infection. Similarly, we know that fear is a major obstacle in our life. It stops us from capitalizing on opportunities. This “fear” we talk about is a psychological infection. it can be cured just like a physical infection.
In order to overcome fear, one of the first steps is to build bravery. When we are courageous, we are able to overcome fear effortlessly. The prophet Muhammad ď·ş, who is the perfect example for mankind, showed us the importance of bravery and gave us an important practical lesson on how to overcome any kind of fear that we may face. On many accounts, we can witness how the prophet was lionhearted, but most importantly, we can learn his method of being brave by understanding what his cure to fear was. Isn’t it amazing to learn the cure to fear from the best of examples, from the best person to walk on the surface of the earth? Who can be a better inspiration than our beloved Prophet? One of these accounts shows us that although he did not know what to expect, (which, to many, is a reason to be afraid ) but still out of pure bravery, went forward and did what he planned.
The event I’m referring to is an event that occurred during an evening in the city of Madinah. There was an eerie sound heard by all, which caused massive alarm throughout the city. Everyone rushed towards the place where this strange and scary sound originated from. Upon getting closer to the source of the mysterious sound, the people saw a horse returning from that direction, and on the horse was none other than Rasulullah ď·ş coming back and saying “there is nothing to fear, there is nothing to fear”. The fact was that the moment the sound was heard, without a moment’s delay, quick as lightning, Rasulullah ď·ş hopped on a horse and set out all alone in the direction of the sound.
We are talking about a man in command of an entire army, and still having the courage to set out as he did towards what could’ve very well been an ambush, or a deadly predator waiting. We learn many lessons from this peculiar behavior of Rasulullah ď·ş. Of them, fundamentally, is his braveness, but also notice how he did not hesitate in taking action. It’s understood that he did not second guess his decision. He heard the sound and at that very moment, without consulting with anyone or hesitating, he went right away and did what he intended to do. This deportment shows us the harm of second-guessing, and the harms of over-analyzing. An aspect of true wisdom is to be able to understand when you’re analyzing and when you’re over-analyzing. You should understand and know the difference. The thoughts of failure and other fear will come inevitably, your mind will remain anxious, and the more you think about it the worst it’ll get.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, fear is real. Anyone who says that it’s only your imagination or it’s only in your mind presumes that fear doesn’t exist. Fear does exist and it’s real. But simply knowing the fact that fear and bravery exist will not cure fear and make you brave. So what will? What did we learn from Rasulullah ď·ş? How did Rasulullah teach us to cure fear? The answer is action. Action cures fear. Rasullullah ď·ş acted, that’s what he did. He did not doubt himself, he did not 2nd guess, or hesitate. That’s right, he acted. I’ll repeat this once more, action cures fear.
Try to put this principle of Rasulullah ﷺ to work. Next time you experience fear, steady yourself, and ask yourself “What kind of action can I take to overcome my fear?”. Search for the answer to this question wholeheartedly. Then take the appropriate action. If you’re afraid of failing, then convert that worry time into study time. If you get scared of some sound at night, go check it out. If you’re scared of losing an important customer, work harder to give him good service. If you’re afraid of something beyond your control like an accident, a tornado, then focus your energy on prayer. The possible benefits of this principle, if applied, are endless.
So there are 2 steps to conquer your fears. First of all, you have to isolate your fear. Determine precisely what you are afraid of, then you take action. There is always some kind of action for any kind of fear. And remember, Rasulullah(ď·ş) took action without waiting or hesitating. From this, we learn that hesitation only amplifies and magnifies fear. So we have to take action promptly and decisively.
As you are surrounded by countless opportunities, let it not be the case that fear is slowing you down or stopping you from progressing. Move ahead and take action. Thinking will not cure fear, rather actions will. You learned this from the bravest man in the history of mankind. Because without a doubt Rasulullah (ď·ş) was the best in all attributes and character. So where is a better place to learn bravery than from the bravest man on earth? Today you learned his principle of taking action. Although surrounded by thousands of men that would sacrifice their lives for his sake, he was the quickest one to take action. Apply this principle in your life and feel its benefits for yourself.