Discomfort is not something to tolerate on the path to managing anxiety. Discomfort is the only path to relieve yourself of anxiety. Calmness, confidence, and clarity sit on the other side of discomfort. And you can’t go around it. You have to go through it. You have to train yourself to sit with your discomfort long enough so that it first dissolves and, second, transforms into strength rather than weakness.

All fear is generic. Fear is not the thing. It is a figment of our imagination that we attach to things and situations, giving them undue power over us. Fear is a false story we inadvertently tell ourselves about how we are not capable of meeting life’s demands. When we remove our generic fear, nothing else can be scary. Any moment of fear can just as easily be viewed as a moment of opportunity.

Fear of failure makes you play it safe. It makes you small and defensive. In the climb of life, safety keeps you at base camp where things appear more in your control. But you can get just as hurt at base camp as you can trying to ascend your highest summit. But only striving for the summit gives you the thrill of life and the opportunity to reach the potential of any situation.

Don’t allow your soul to get involved in non-soul-worthy pursuits. Only things that create value for you or others should get access to your soul.