Fear.
At some point it paralyzes us all.
Fears are small and large,
Rational and irrational,
Based on experience or merely the wiles of our imaginations.
I *used to* rush into the bed after I switched off the lights because somehow my magic comforter could protect to me from the evils that lurked in the dark. Or at least make me invisible.
Ok, so I still do when the King of Free isn’t home. And what’s up with that reasoning? While he’s certainly my Knight in Shining Armor, he’s not a ninja or anything.
We all have fears and we all struggle with them. Heights, Spiders, the Dark, Public Speaking, Flying, Snakes, SNAKES ON A PLANE!, clowns, but probably the most universal fear of all is failure.
I find that so many Money Saving Lords and Ladies seeking to slay debt and gain freedom, struggle with this fear more than any other. If they speak their experience into existence then the possibility of failure looms off in the dark and indiscriminate distance.
So they never even try.
It’s too hard. Life will be boring. We just can’t do it. We won’t have any fun. It’s too much of a sacrifice. We’ve tried so many times before.
It’s not that they’re sissy-marys. Or at least, I’m guessing they’re not.
Becoming debt free requires change (if you’re doing the same thing and expecting a different result; wake up call, that ain’t gonna happen). And that change can bring with it fear. Because doing something different is scary. And sometimes change hurts. But as the Queen Mum has oft said to her students, “Change provides the best opportunity for growth.”
Our debt slaying journey of close to four years has certainly been a period of growth for us. But not in ways that I had anticipated. I thought that perhaps by the end of our journey I’d rise to the ranks of financial whiz. I still go cross-eyed when someone says words like annuity (Ramseyheads: I know it’s the jacket) or security. But I do have a much better grasp on personal finance (which basically boils down to money in, money out). I longed to someday be a big giver (which I am confident that we will reach this goal), but instead learned that giving begins in your heart and can be done in big ways with little money and sometimes in small ways with big money. I wanted to be debt free so that we could buy the things we wanted and needed but now there are few things I want or need.
Yes in the beginning, looking at a balance sheet that dripped with red was scary and seemed insurmountable. Failure was imminent. The debt dragon had very large teeth and snarled at every step we took. Now, standing so near the finish line (with a mere lizard before us) I wonder what I was so afraid of, why it seemed so purposeless to try. Overcoming those fears has led to $118K+ paid off in less than four years.
The growth we’ve gained has been priceless, though.
And if we can do it, so can you. The first step to pay off all of your debt requires you to move beyond fear.
What’s holding you back? What’s the fear that has you paralyzed? Is it a rational fear? And better yet is the fear more important than the freedom? Does the fear have more value than the freedom? Is it better to bow at the feet of the fear than seek the Freedom?
Gain inspiration to pay off debt! Check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free
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