By Matthew Habchi | September 15th, 2020

If you walked down the street dressed in a brown hessian bag
with neck, arms & leg holes to poke your limbs & head through with a
big smile on your face, I am willing to bet most people will think you’re some
kind of lunatic! However, when we walk down the street dressed like someone we’ve
seen before (be it in a magazine, movie or a tv series), I am sure you will be
met with much greater acceptance. This my friends, is unfortunate. There’s no
fun or freedom in that. I’m not advocating we should dress this way, but would
it hurt us adults to have a bit of harmless fun? I think not.

The ultimate question we need to be asking is this: What kind
of world would we live in, if everyone dressed like a 4 yr old left to
make their own choices? I’ll tell you what kind of world it would be.. A world
where nobody cares what anyone thinks of them, everyone would be accepting of
everyone else, with no judgements, there would be less anxiety, stress, analysis
paralysis & absolutely no desire to conform to a standard of “normal”. What
is normal anyway?

Ask the 4 yr old, I’m sure they’d be happy & they would
make just as many friends, if their peers were doing the same thing as them.

So many of us are paralysed by the fear of what we think, other people are thinking. It’s not even real, we literally make it up in our
heads. In my youth, I was plagued with insecurities & I’ll be the first to
tell you, that I too fell victim to this awful gut-wrenching habit. Spirituality
was my saving grace & in becoming more consciously aware I have been able to care
less over the years.

If we wish for our children to grow up in a world which
places far more value in love than fear, then as a collective, we need to start
making some changes. And the most important place to start is with one’s self.
So what do we do, I hear you asking. Fear not my friend, I will not leave you
in the dark.

You must remember that we have been hard wired to act a certain
way. We have been programmed & conditioned over decades; from the very moment
we were born. Friends, it is time to un-learn.

The first thing we must challenge ourselves to do, is to get
out of our comfort zones. A re mapping of the brain requires constant bouts of doing
things differently. Start with brushing your teeth with the opposite hand for a
week. After that, tweak your daily routine so that it’s different from
yesterday. Next, set yourself some challenges. For example, go
lay down on the ground in a busy public place for 10 seconds (this will feel more
like 40 seconds, but it will help you get over your fears. Don’t stop there,
set yourself a weekly challenge to overcome more & more fears again.

Doing this will liberate you from the thoughts of others.
And it will give you the confidence to reach greater heights, for the less
afraid you are in life, the happier you become, the more you grow & the
more you evolve. After all, that’s what we are here to do. So don’t let fear
stop you today, become more aware of what is holding you back & learn how
to break through it. I guarantee, you will thank yourself.