Perspective: Fear v Faith

PERSPECTIVE: FEAR V FAITH

So it’s Thursday 02 April 2020, and I have been up since at around 2:42 am to be precise. I had this inspiration since I got on LinkedIn somehow with the kinds of posts people have been posting I was inspired to write an article to help you navigate the era that is about to come. By this I mean winning psychologically, financially, business wise and relationally too. The starting point would be a summary of where exactly most of us are right now.

We are at home,  I’m kidding, yes we are at home however the state of mind some have entered falls into either one of these categories, some have befriended FEAR, others bolt through with courage and have befriended FAITH. As they always say the world is not always black and white so I will also mention that some are in the realm of UNCERTAINTY.  Wherever you stand I am sure this has played a major role in your approach to your work, the situation (Covid-19), your relationships and your money whether you know it or not. As you read this identify yourself in either category, yes I said either because UNCERTAINTY and FEAR are partners in crime, a great crime that could cost you everything right now and I will show you how below.

You might have found yourself asking questions, to yourself or others about what’s to come and how exactly things will work post the pandemic. This is a very good thing because it is an excellent thing to plan, to count the cost. The answers you got might have given you goosebumps as you realize you are only dependent on your salary which might not come for one reason or another, or maybe like myself you are primarily a social entrepreneur and your work is on the ground interacting with people which might not happen for a while, or maybe you own a startup which involved daily sales you can’t exactly do online, or you are a freelancer. One common thing here is that all these things show an inability to be fruitful in your work. So what do you then do? Do you fold your hands and wait? Do you run around like a headless chicken and try to make things happen? What do you do?

Let me tell you, your response to depends on one thing and that is perspective. When standing at the peak of a mountain alone, you can either cry about the hike getting there or you can admire the view from where you stand. The truth about perspective is that it feeds from somewhere. Your perspective in this instance will either feed from FAITH or feed from FEAR.

I personally enjoy studying people to somewhat understand deeper than the fasad most wear to please or impress. So I am inquisitive, I ask questions mostly to listen to the why before the why. That means If I ask you what do you see, I am not so keen on what you see but understanding why you see what you see. We have probably heard that “the monster you feed grows” so which one are you feeding.

Let me talk a little about fear, I am so tempted to use the acronym False Evidence Appearing Real, haha. Do not worry I will not bore you with that again. My view of fear is the same view I have with blindness, not literal, physical blindness though. Let me use this example that may be relatable to most, when you were a kid at night time, particularly bed time, you’ll notice there was a time when the light had to go off, I believe some of you did all kinds of numbers on your parents or guardians just to keep it on because you were afraid, afraid of the dark, the non-existing monster in the dark. Let’s analyze this a bit, your fear did not come because there was a tokoloshi in your closet, but it came because darkeness meant the absence of light, the absence of clarity on what’s going on, the absence of clear vision such that some jackets on chairs started to look like people. (I know this still spooks some adults out)

So the why before the why for fear is simply blindness.  

FAITH on the other hand Is the complete opposite, faith is seeing that actually the jacket on the chair is not a person it is a jacket on a chair. Faith thus comes with clarity, it comes with confidence regardless of what the shadow of darkness may look like. David said though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. Being a person of faith he had a revelation that the shadow of death was not death itself it was a shadow.

So the why before the why for faith is vision.

I am sure now you see why I mentioned earlier that UNCERTAINTY and FEAR are partners in crime. Fear always brings uncertainty. A fearful person does not trust that the shadow they see is not real. They form a faith, a belief in the unreal.

Now that that is clear with everything that is happening, are you seeing shadows or opportunities in this time? I mentioned four areas of your life that this will affect, your psychological make-up, finances, business and relationships. I can assure you of one thing right now, if your response to this or even other events yet to occur is fear, you will not win. You will become numb, rigid and fail, because your mind will tell you, you are not strong enough, good enough, smart enough to face the unknown, your pocket will tell you this is not Zarepath and there is no Elijah, you cannot multiply oil from just one jar, you won’t have enough money, your business strategy will become impossible to change, your relationships will suffer you won’t believe what God has said about you, you will not be accepting of support from family and friends. Why? Simply because you are afraid.

Okay enough, so what’s the cure? The cure to COVID_19 I do not have J, however the cure to this dilemma is simple, it is VISION. What you cannot see, you cannot have. If you see it, and you believe it Is yours, then you can have it. In order to not sound too cheesy “If you can see it you can have it” I’m sure someone as cynical as I am is like “but like how”. How do you see it?

Take it back to the drawing board.

Psychological make-up

•  Analyse, what are those things you believe about yourself, what is their basis, fear or faith?
• What is the truth about you?
• What do you need to change?
• What are your flaws, what is limiting your growth?
• Last and not least, the most important question then is What is your purpose, what is the vision you are working towards.

Finances

•  You need to know how much you have, you need and how you can make it.
• With the countries in this state it’s important to re-strategize and figure out what things you can do to digitize and still make money during this season.
• Remember faith is clear, decisive and thus strategic. Your strategies for the now must be clear on where they fit.

Business

•            Business for me functions on one simple concept again that is vision.
•           Since it is subject to natural processes and the prevalent life cycle it is important to be clear about where you want to go through your business. Know what you wish to achieve, how you will achieve it and finally what you need to achieve it.
•           It has come to my attention in this time that a lot of you probably reading or listening to this have had great ideas for business post the lockdown, that’s great but planning out a truly sustainable business takes slightly longer and even more research, do not be afraid. Ask questions and find out what formula will work best for your intended business.

Relationships

•            I am sealing it with this last one which is probably as important as self-discovery.
•           You can go somewhere on your own but in order to go far you will need to build sustainable, sensible and wise relationships.
•            In every relationship an exchange takes place, it is either you give or take or it is balance therefore reciprocal, you feed off each other’s energy.
•            It is important to have healthy relationships firstly with yourself, with God, with family, then friends, then colleagues, then people in general.
•           A relationship with self does not begin until you know self, in order to know self the best person to ask is the manufacturer. He created you so the relationship with God is most important. As you build this relationship you learn self-love, love for God which makes you ready to love your neighbor, this could be your immediate family, your church family or even friends etc.
•          The glue that makes relationships work is love, beyond love there are things that must be in place such as knowledge of self, knowledge of vices, discovery of purpose. This will help shape and build your character.

Thank you very much for your time. Remember faith functions on vision, fear functions on blindness, whatever overflows does so from either stance it is up to you to decide which monster you will feed.