Do you have any type of fear?  Or, is there anything that you’re afraid of?  Is fear holding you back from doing certain things?   Or, are you afraid that certain negative things would happen?  If yes, then, do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.

Do you know why I asked you these questions?  Because fear is one of our greatest enemies, and we need to overcome it and put it under our fear, where it belongs.  Facing fear head-on is the best way to combat it.  If you face everything,  every challenges, including fears, head-on, you’ll surely rise above them.

Fear is always your undisputed enemy.  If you never confront it, it wins by 100%. However, if you do, it only has a chance of winning by 50% or less.

Seriously speaking, one of the worst enemies of the world today is fear, which a wise man defined as “False Expectation Appearing Real,”

Do you know that all the different types of fear that everyone of us suffer is man-made and a self-inflicted injury?  In other words, did you know that we are the ones that create the fear that we suffer?

Yes, of course!  How did I know this?

Because the Bible says: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of sound mind.” – 2 Timothy 1:7. This means that if you do the thing you fear that the death of fear would definitely become certain.

The pertinent question that we have to ask ourselves at this juncture is: Now that the destructive spirit of fear sometimes overwhelm us, how do we kill or overcome it?

While some of us have discovered a way or ways of overcoming their fears, others are still struggling with constant torment of fear.

Below are some of the memorable fears that I have encountered so far in my life and how I surmounted them.   I enjoin you to meditate and learn from them.  I would also like to learn from your own experiences; how you have been overcoming your own fears.

My Fear #1

While I was growing up in the village, several decades ago, there was a boy I used to fear at the primary school that I attended.  Permit me to leave out his name here because he’s now a father with children like me.

I used to fear that guy because he was bigger than I was and because he liked making trouble.  Above all, he had the record of having beaten almost all the boys in our school and village.

Whenever the guy and I played against each other in the game of soccer, I used to avoid marking him, even when it was my duty to mark him.  I also used to avoid him anytime I was with the ball.  This lasted for a very long time.

One day, as we were playing an inter-class match at school, the unexpected happened.  As I was dribbling and rushing to score a goal against his side, he kicked me maliciously from behind and caused me to tripped off before falling down dangerously.

With that anger, I charged towards him angrily, lifted him above my head and thudded him on the ground to the delight of many other pupils.  As he got up to fight me, other pupils held us and stopped us from further fighting.

I didn’t know from where or how I got the courage to do what I did that day.  All I knew was that I did the miraculous.  Since that day and until we left the school, the guy never crossed my way again.

I simply became a scarecrow to him.  So, do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.

My Fear #2

There was a very beautiful lady I used to admire when I was in my early twenties.  Then she was in her early thirties.  Both of us were bankers, except that she was a manager at her bank while I was just an ordinary clerical officer in the bank where I worked.

I met her for the first time at Pass Your Exams, PYE, a banking and accountancy school based at the Jibowu area of Lagos metropolis.  We attended the school preparatory to our banking and accountancy professional examinations.

I liked her so much but didn’t know how to confront her with my love proposal.  Each time I saw her discussing with another guy at the school, I got angry with myself, yet I couldn’t make my offer known to her.

One day, both of us met at the office of the Nigerian Institute of Bankers, NIB, now Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN.  Then the Institute was at Turton Street in Yaba, a walking distance the popular Commercial Avenue, before it was relocated to its present location on Adeola Hopewell Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Both of us came there for different purposes.  While she went there to submit her student-membership form, I went there to buy some past question papers.  Immediately my eyes caught her own eyes, both of us smiled at each other.

Fortunately for me, that day, both of us were through with the businesses we went there to transact almost at the same time.  After exchanging pleasantries in front of the Institute’s office, on our way back to our different offices, she offered me a lift in her car to the popular and nearby Yaba Bus-stop.

As we were driving together in her car, a voice from inside me said to me: “Tell her that you love her.”  Without wasting time, I did exactly as the quiet voice had advised me.

“Victor,” she said to me with a warm smile, “let’s talk about that tomorrow at school.  Take this money for your fare to your office in Lagos.”

She got to school before me the next day.  She was enjoying some music in her car stereo when I arrived the school later.  As soon as she sighted me approaching our school’s entrance gate, she beckoned at me to come and join her in her car.

To cut the long story short, she accepted my offer of the previous day without any form of condition.  I couldn’t believe my eyes, judging from the differences between our ages and our social statuses.

I loved that lady so dearly, but she loved me more than I loved her.  Because of her overwhelming love for me, she offered to take care of my tuition fees at the school until I completed my banking and accountancy professional examinations, among other expenses.  In addition to that, she was the first person who took me outside Nigeria in an all expense-paid trip to the Netherlands in 1989.

I lost her two years later, when she got married to a politician, who’s now a popular Senator at the National Assembly in Nigeria.

Since after dating her, I never entertained any fear in approaching any girl or lady that I liked, no matter her age or class, provided she was not married.

My ability to win her love killed the fear of approaching any woman I liked.  In short, talking to women for love, after dating that lady, become an easy task for me.

That confirms the fact that if you do the thing you fear that the death of fear is really certain.

                                                                                                        …to be continued the day after tomorrow (April 5, 2019)