It is impossible to not dread the unknown; it's scary and chaotic. Not knowing what’s ahead of you or behind you can be a large stress factor in anyone’s life. It is easy for our minds to go directly to fear when not knowing what the future holds, but what about if our minds went directly to excitement and curiosity? Could that shift in thinking change the outcome?

There is a constant stigmatic attitude regarding the unknown. We are inherently taught to be afraid of failing and not knowing what’s to come, how do these fearful thoughts project our thoughts forward? They don’t. We generally like to be able to predict outcomes, know what’s going on around us and anticipate future predictions, and that’s exactly why failing is a major fear for most people. While these are all qualities instilled in us since birth, it is important to recognize how and why fear just doesn’t serve us anymore.

But I am here to tell you that always fearing the unknown is not healthy, and doesn’t serve us on a higher level anymore. Imagine all of the stress you could eliminate just by embracing this sense of unknowing with excitement instead of fear. That new job with the management that never told you what to expect, or that new adventure you just decided to go on deserves your excitement, not your fearful thoughts and beliefs. Jumping straight to fear causes more harm than good, and ultimately makes your experience more negative and not as enjoyable.

Now believe me, this will take some practice. We have to train our minds to not go automatically to that place of fear, but instead to that place of not knowing what is yet to come, and focus on how exciting and thrilling that can be.

So I challenge you to make a change. Change the way you think, and you will start to see your life unfold in more ways than you could have imagined. Eliminate the fear and the worry and the nervousness that seems to consume your thoughts and shift into a more enthusiastic and exciting way of thinking. Not only will this change how you think, but it will also change how you act. Approach even the toughest situations with these positive qualities and you will find that the fear of the unknown you had prior will slowly fade away.

Making this change is not easy. Personally, I have always had trouble with thinking negatively about the unknown and hindering the positive aspects of the situation that overshadow the negative. I have my mom to thank for teaching me how to view the unknown more positively and with more enthusiasm. At first, it was difficult always having to remind myself to not be so negative and stressed all the time when I don't know whats to come, but those constant reminders shaped my patterns of thought and ultimately made me a happier person.

It is up to us to manage our thoughts and thinking patterns. Fearing the unknown does not allow for our minds to expand to its full capacity and potential, but instead the fear constricts it. We are more than our minds and our fearful thoughts, and so much more than the conditioned behaviors we confine ourselves to.