From an early age and for over two decades I was crippled by severe panic attacks. Damaging my growth as a student, the depth of my relationships with others, and my pursuit of a career. Leading to years of depression and struggle.

By God’s grace and with some very practical steps taken, I was able to overcome the panic attacks and all that came with them. After doing research and gaining understanding on the biological, emotional, and physical realities I dealt with, I now see clearly the actions and mindset that can remove this type of fear from a life.

I instinctively took steps to cope and heal, I now understand the reasons behind the steps I took. I want to share these ideas with as many people as possible.

In your family, in your place of employment, in your church or school, there are many people struggling with anxiety, panic attacks, and other types of fear.

This series, “Fearless” is for you and anyone who needs to overcome, anxiety, worry, and regret.

Let’s start with a few things you should know,

• Fear is a good thing, if it keeps you from danger.
• Fear is a slave-master if it becomes irrational.
• You are not alone, there are millions of people battling irrational fear.
• Many people have learned to overcome paralyzing fear.

I define anxiety as a present fear, you feel it now regardless of the cause. I define worry as a fear of the future, you are anticipating something that may or may not happen. And I define regret as a kind of fear of the past, you feel a type of fear over what happened. These different fears combine to paralyze and pull you into self-doubt and depression. These loose definitions aren’t found in any psychological textbook, but they will find their way into this series because this is how I understand irrational fear.

There are many ways to deal with irrational fear, as a pastor I believe the ultimate answer is found in the grace of God. But even if you aren’t interested in a spiritual answer in this area, this series will have very practical steps that will offer help. In fact, religion if not understood in the right context can add to fear and confusion.

I invite you to follow this series, I believe you will find answers, steps to take, and comfort in the next few weeks.

There are five categories we will cover in this series:

Things we should Acknowledge. January 8th

Actions we need to take. January 8th

Attitudes we ought to consider. January 16th

Ways to Arrange our everyday lives. January 23rd

An Awareness we can develop. January 29th

I hope you will follow and interact with this series. My hope is that you will find freedom from anxiety, worry, regret, and any fear that holds you back from being who you are meant to be.

Tom Wise

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