Fear of Failure

I'm dealing with a little fear of failure...big time. This weekend I'll be attempting my first half marathon. As you may have read earlier I did do a practice 13 miler...and paid for it. Well since that time I have reached my training goals exactly zero times. As a matter of fact I have not been able to run over 6 miles since than. And that's been a couple of weeks ago. The body is a weird thing. When it wants to shut down it just shuts down. All the will power in the world can not over rule the body when it makes up it's mind that it is done. So, with that it mind, and knowing this weekend is the real deal...I'm afraid I may fail.

Reactions to the fear of failure. One thing I am learning through this process is that when fear grips us...sometime natural reactions aren't the best course. My natural reaction is to train harder and run more. But what I really should be doing is running less and resting more. That is a nearly impossible thing to move from the rational part of the brain to the emotional. And so what do I do...I train harder and run more. Somebody help me.

This is all fine and good when it comes to running. Because really...long term...who really cares if I finish the half marathon or not? In the general scheme of things it is completely irrelevant to anything significant. But the danger is when we have the same reaction in life. The problem is I tend to have the same reaction in life and ministry. When the youth ministry isn't going well my normal inclination is...do more. Try harder. Plan more. Plan bigger. When maybe God is saying, 'relax, rest, and remember that it is I, the LORD who can minister to the hearts of people. Stop trying harder and doing more and focus more on being who I created you to be. Rest in me'. So really the only failure we should fear is the failure to rest in and enjoy our relationship with God. Let's do that and watch as He replaces our failure with His success.

tags: triathlon