Justification: another face of fear

Facing our fears is something we do as a part of growth. Every step we take forward, we are leaving something behind. It can be something that is both extremely trying and ultimately liberating.

In order to face our fears we have to know them and name them. Some things are easy to name, some we can only admit to in the privacy of our own minds. But some hide behind the mask of justification. We allow ourselves to make excuses so that we don't have to admit to our fears. We claim we are busy and don't have time because we are afraid of failing. We put off trying something new because we don't have the money.

Sometimes these limitations are true, there is a finite amount of time, and at any current moment some things may be out of our reach. But we have to learn to be brutally honest with ourselves. Because sometimes, we use these limitations to avoid doing something that we might fail at. We hide behind our reasons as to why we can't even start a project because we are afraid of what the outcome might be.

And sometimes, it isn't even failure that we are afraid of, but success, or even simply change. It is easy to continue as we always have. Change brings us into the unknown and that can be a very scary thing.

Part of our process of inner growth is forcing ourselves to be honest. We don't have to shout our fears to the world, but we do have to admit them to ourselves. We might not be able to surmount them today, but if we don't admit them, we will never get past them.