Being fearless in your twenties seems nearly impossible. With so many big changes happening it’s often difficult to be courageous in our metamorphosis from young adults to full-fledged professionals.
We fear moving away from our childhood home, just as deeply as we fear graduating college, starting our first adult job, and beginning a committed relationship. The fear between getting married and starting a family is similar. We are afraid of falling short of our dreams. Our twenties are full of obstacles, and while we are anxious to introduce new changes into our lives, fear comes shadowed in these transitions.
How can we be fearless instead of fearful? Being fearless is best known as living without fear, being bold, and acting brave. Being fearless means we are courageous in our growth. Rather than shy away from a challenge, being fearless encourages us to tackle any life lesson, bundle of stress, or big change coming our way.
Being a fearless millennial means we stand up for what we believe in and never lose sight of our goals. While the complex of being a fearless twenty-something seems enchanting, too many of us are fearful of being fearless. We need to learn to combat our fears and become the brave souls we are deep inside.
Here are ten easy ways for all twenty-somethings to act more fearless:
1. Recognize fear in your life. Pinpoint what parts of your life carry fear. Are you afraid of buying your first home? Graduating college or grad school? Getting married? Becoming stagnant in your career? Wherever fear exists, recognize it’s there and work to eliminate it.
2. Be objective about your fears. Take an interest in learning the depth to why you’re afraid of certain pieces of your life. Investigating your fears may help you work through them and realize the things you worry about are not troubles you should concern yourself with.
By understanding why you’re afraid of certain aspects of your goals, lifestyle, home, etc. you may come to terms with some of these things and let them go. And remember, there’s no shame in going to therapy.
3. Adopt a daring mindset. You need to learn to be a bit more daring and brave. Push yourself outside of your comfort zone by taking on new challenges. The obstacles you overcome today could very well determine your future later. Being more daring will encourage you to become fearless.
We shared Why You Need to Do Something That Scares You here.
4. Embrace struggle. For the most part, we tend to avoid struggle because it feels like failure. We are afraid of struggling, and therefore avoid challenges that seem out of our realm. Rather than shy away from the risk of struggle, twenty-somethings must learn to embrace it. We need to follow the mantra “no pain, no gain” to develop our skills and strengthen ourselves. Overcoming obstacles that we struggled to conquer will ultimately disintegrate our fears.
5. Learn from mistakes. We all make mistakes; it’s an inevitable part of life. While some of us fear making the same mistakes over and over again, we must not allow our fear of error to cloud our judgement and learning opportunities. Reflect on what went wrong and choose to grow onward. Moving forward, establishing new ways of handling mistakes, and trying again should eventually diminish your fear of failing.
6. Believe in endless possibilities. Don’t listen to the inner critic inside of you who sometimes supplies negative chatter about what’s realistic and what’s merely a dream. We can’t all be award winning actors, authors, celebrities, artists, doctors, etc. but we can all try.
Believe that the possibilities in front of you are endless. Live a life without limits to toss that fear aside and leave braveness and boldness in its wake.
[Tweet “Live a life without limits to toss your fear aside and leave braveness and boldness in its wake.”]
7. Look within. Where is your fear rooted? Find it deep within the depths of your soul. Lock on to that fear and rip it out of you! Being fearless means understanding you are in control of the things that scare you in life. Don’t allow yourself to be afraid of change or new stages of growing up. Toss those worries aside and leave room for positivity.
[Tweet “Being fearless means understanding you are in control of the things that scare you in life.”]
8. Let go of the past. Acting more fearless means letting go of the things you feared before. Maybe you were once afraid of getting married because your fiance ended your engagement right before the wedding. Does that mean you will never get married again? NO! Of course not. Let go of your former fears and move forward. Holding onto the past isn’t healthy and it’s inhibiting your ability to be the bold, brave, strong person you really are.
9. Choose to be happy. You are happiest when you’re working toward your goals, pursuing your passions, and enjoying life, right? If so, fear does not fit into that equation. Make decisions that are bold, brave, and come from a good place. Your attitude, perspective, and overall optimism is bound to knock any lingering fear right out of your life. Happiness will enable you to live fearlessly.
10. Be your best self. Being the absolute best you can be is essential in living a bold, fearless life. Eliminate anything holding you back: dead end jobs, failed relationships, unbalanced friendships, or pessimism. Having the bravery to force the bad out of your life will leave ample room for the good. Once you truly are your best self acting fearless will be as natural and essential as breathing.
[Tweet ” Having the bravery to force the bad out of your life will leave ample room for the good.”]
Are you worth the risks of a big change in your life? Do you love yourself? Value yourself? Believe you deserve to be your best self? You better answer a unanimous YES to all of those questions. At GenTwenty, we believe you are worth it and you shouldn’t let anything stand in the way of being your best self. Especially fear.
Living a fearless life doesn’t come naturally for most of us millennials, but it is possible for even the most fearful twenty-somethings. Remember to be bold and brave as often as you can. Follow your dreams without fear or hesitation because you deserve it. Go out there and be your best self!