No matter what happens, I can handle it.
How exactly does this mantra help?
Any ideas without action are nothing. Planning and dreaming are easy. Acting is difficult, but only at the beginning. If you act, then you get the result. Success makes us happier and richer; failure shows what we need to fix in our actions. All that you did not do before, or that nobody has done, is fraught with uncertainty. Our mind protects us from all that can cause discomfort. It is a self-preservation instinct that has been helping humanity for centuries.

"The Stronghold" has a conflict between two groups of animals. Why think about self-development if you have fangs to take what is not yours? If most predators abandoned Hunting several generations ago, then you have no strong competitors. Those who decided to rob the first hostel on the Plain think so.
They will meet with something stronger than fangs and impudence; someone with the confidence of those who are going on the path of self-development. Those who know the value of each step into the unknown along this path. They know, "No matter what happens, I will be ready, I can handle it."
For everything that requires a great result needs discipline, perseverance, faith in yourself, a clear goal, and courage to dream big. Those predators and herbivores who decided to live together without Hunting had it all. Anyone who has these qualities can be scarier than a furious predator; he can be protected better than a mighty bison. In a world where there was nothing supernatural, such animals took a simple name for themselves - the Beasts. They built the Land of the Beasts.

"The Paws that built the Land of the Beasts" is a book series for middle grade, for readers aged 8-12. In each of the books, you will find examples of easy paths in life, which are so attractive for the heroes.
It is easy to say: "I had a bad childhood, so I ..." or "Needles naturally protect me, what if I take advantage of this so no one can stop me?" What could be simpler than finding a reason in external factors; an excuse for your actions? Or vice versa, take advantage of someone else's weakness?
In the Land of the Beasts, animals only recently began to live together without Hunting. Their life is constantly changing for the better. However, their instincts do not go away.
How do heroes control instincts that sometimes interfere with them?
They are watching others, choosing a good role model, asking questions to those whose answers deserve attention. Heroes drown doubts and fears from the mind through positive thoughts.

Read the first book of series.
Go to the Land of the Beasts, be among hungry predators, withstand the siege. And come back, remember that each of us always has the power to live our own lives, that our fears and doubts are only illusions or instincts that we can control.