{"id":117457,"date":"2021-02-03T11:05:41","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T16:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=117457"},"modified":"2022-04-14T15:05:56","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T19:05:56","slug":"overcoming-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/overcoming-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"Overcoming Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"

I remember my first week in Central Florida\u2019s Police Academy like it was yesterday, even though it feels like a lifetime ago. It was the summer of 2007 and I was in my early 20s, 160ish pounds and over 6 feet tall. The physical training for police academies are structured like the U.S. Military Academy\u2019s boot camp, but to a lesser degree. I had people tell me what to expect, but nothing prepared me for that first week.<\/p>\n

The academy instructors were our drill instructors and they made their presence very<\/strong> well known. They pushed people to their limits in those first, sweltering days and confronted them with something I wasn\u2019t expecting to see: fear.<\/p>\n

Having worked many years in law enforcement, fear and I now are old acquaintances. I know its tricks and its whisperings. Fear tells you all the things you can\u2019t do and what you\u2019re not meant to be. Fear locks<\/strong> you up at a time when you need to move<\/strong> the most. Fear makes you doubt your purpose and<\/em> who you really are. So, when I tell you I was afraid law enforcement may not be for me\u2026my fear spoke coyly to me as I desperately ran the track in that blazing summer heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t do this,\u201d<\/em> fear said to me. \u201cYou\u2019re not good enough.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

How many of us hear those words in our lives as we try to do things differently? Maybe there is a new job opportunity that has opened up and you\u2019re wondering if you should take it. \u201cYou can\u2019t do this.\u201d <\/em>Maybe you want to be an entrepreneur and start your own business. \u201cYou\u2019re not good enough.\u201d<\/em> Maybe there is a new restaurant you want to try and you\u2019ve never been there before. \u201cYou won\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

At some point in our lives, we all have heard the creeping voice of fear and self-doubt. And there have been times when I have listened to my fears. How many missed opportunities have I allowed to languish because of that? How many times could I have grown as a person if I stood bravely against the storm of my indecisions?<\/p>\n

Countless endeavors and new directions have left the harbor of change without me. I know I\u2019m not alone.<\/p>\n

So how can we overcome fear? How can we move forward in 2021 with all the different challenges happening around our nation? You want to know my secret?<\/p>\n

One step at a time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tried and true, I promise you.<\/p>\n

Let me take you back to 2007, when fear was telling me I wasn\u2019t good enough to be a police officer. As the instructors made me feel an inch tall and my body hurt all over, my fear was telling me to quit.<\/p>\n

If I quit, the pain would stop. If I quit, I could go back to when things were easy and I didn\u2019t have to challenge myself.<\/p>\n

What did I do to start overcoming my fear? I told it just one more step<\/em>. Just one. I put one foot down and raised the other. I kept going.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sure, my fear still gnawed at me and it didn\u2019t totally go away. We don\u2019t defeat our fears overnight. They\u2019ll still be there and truth be told, some measure of fear is a good thing.<\/p>\n

However, I moved forward. I didn\u2019t stop, even when my fears told me to.<\/p>\n

I could do this and I was good enough.<\/strong><\/p>\n

My experience in the police academy was memorable and I made many friends because of it. Many have gone on to lead successful careers and have helped people in our community. If I had listened to my fears, I would never have been in a position to help an 8-month pregnant woman running from her abusive boyfriend. I would never have been able to pull a young woman out of her destroyed vehicle after she was involved in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. I would never have had the honor and privilege of protecting my community from those who would seek to do harm.<\/p>\n

Fear can be overcome and you can do it! You can do the things that you want to do with persistence, courage and tenacity.<\/p>\n

There is nothing you can\u2019t do or put your mind to. It is up you to tell your fear what I do\u2026just one more step. Just one more hour. Just one more day.<\/p>\n

Move your fear out of the way people.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got new places to go and things to do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Matthew Scott \u201907 \u201911MS<\/em><\/strong> is a sergeant with the UCF Police Department. He can be reached at Matthew.Scott@ucf.edu<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The\u00a0UCF Forum<\/strong>\u00a0is a weekly series of opinion columns from faculty, staff and students who serve on a panel for a year. A new column is posted each Wednesday on\u00a0<\/em>UCF Today<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and then broadcast on WUCF-FM (89.9) between 7:50 and 8 a.m. Sunday. Opinions expressed are those of the columnists, and are not necessarily shared by the University of Central Florida.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can do the things that you want to do with persistence, courage and tenacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":117458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[7882,4911,4936],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-117457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","tag-ucf-forum","tag-ucf-police-department","tag-ucfpd"],"yoast_head":"\nOvercoming Fear | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You can do the things that you want to do with persistence, courage and tenacity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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