Doubt. Nature’s most poisonous paralyzer.

Confucius, one of China’s most famous philosophers once said:

If you already know what you have to do, and you don’t do it, then you are worse than before.

This quote entails that once you know what you have to do, you should do it, there’s no way around it. What a powerful yet simple idea.

We’re filled with the “I don’t know what to do” or “I don’t know how to do it” excuse, we repeat these over and over again as a safeguard. We use excuses to prevent us from ever trying and therefore from failing.

I’d rather attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.

Robert H. Schuller

We think that we don’t really know what to do, that discovering our real purpose is life’s biggest achievement.

But what if we find out what needs to be done? What could then stop us from actually doing it and reaching our goals?

Nothing can stop us but doubt. Nature’s most poisonous paralyzer.

Doubt is like a weed within us, growing slowly and unnoticed, feeding from our unnecessary thoughts, painful ideas and negativity.

What if I fail? What if I’m not good enough? What if?

We let the weed of doubt grow within us when we doubt ourselves and if it’s not stopped it will eventually consume most of our energies, leaving us paralyzed by fear, unwilling to do what needs to be done and living nothing but a half life. It will waste time of our precious lives.

The solution

Like any weed, doubt it’s easier to remove before it gets wild and sets its roots. Be aware of yourself, look inside of you and find the real reason why you’re not doing what you want or need to do. Get to work. This is Enkrateia; power over oneself.

Is it fear? Is it doubt? What’s stopping you or slowing you down?

Once the source is found take it away from your inner garden, dispose of it, trash it as you would any other poison. If it’s too grown and resists to be pulled from the root then fight it. Replant it somewhere it won’t hurt you or bother you, make sure it so it doesn’t distract you anymore but keep in mind its existence. Cover it and deprivate it from sunlight as to kill it slowly but surely.

Power over oneself is the only thing that will open up a path to peace and grandness.

Your doubt and your fear feeds from each other and from yourself, don’t let that happen. Go forward and beyond, do what you want to do and follow your dreams, your doubt will eventually disappear as any coward does when the real challenge awaits.

Make sure you’re the brave one fighting and not the coward one running.