astercontrol:

Whenever I see those posts going “I’m having trouble doing this thing because I’m scared.” “Then DO IT SCARED!” …there is a cynical part of me that is convinced any person who reblogs that as actual helpful advice is a Russian operative hired by whoever profits the most from convincing people that their problems can all be solved with willpower

That’s a conspiracy-theory-esque exaggeration, and not what I actually believe, but my main point stands.

Sometimes you do need to do something while scared of it.

But if you are having trouble doing something because you’re scared, that means your survival instinct is telling you that your fear is valid, and that something horrible will happen if you push past that fear.

And IF that’s not actually true (which is important to ascertain before you “do it scared”!)

…then the next steps include:

- talk yourself through why the danger is not as bad as your fear is telling you it is

- talk yourself through why the potential reward of doing the thing is good enough to outweigh any risks

- prepare ways to reduce risks and make contingency plans in case something does go wrong

There is no point in that process where simply saying “do it scared” could possibly be of any help to me.

That’s the kind of order that a parent or teacher might have pushed on me, in maybe kindergarten or first grade, as the first and only step in the process. And if it got me to do the thing, it did so only by replacing my initial fear with a greater fear of punishment by a parent or teacher.

I’m not saying it’s impossible that there’s someone who might actually find it helpful, somehow.

I just can’t model in my head how that would work.