Almost 40 years ago, I refused to drive after a drunk driver's hit-and-run at the speed of over 100 miles per hour zigzagging on Highway 101. Months later, I resumed driving out of necessity, but I constantly looked into the rear view mirror fearing someone would hit my car again. That fear lasted for quite some time!
Fear talks to people. And when they listen, this is what can happen:
Fear talks to people. And when they listen, this is what can happen:
Sheila loved to dance
but she wouldn’t go out on the dance floor with her fiancé because she thought
she’d look clumsy and ridiculous.
Arnie knew he deserved a
raise, but he was so nervous about approaching his boss, he never asked for
one.
Delia’s fear of bears
was so great that she wouldn’t go on a camping trip with her friends. And their
campsite wasn’t even in bear territory.
Fear is that voice inside our heads that says, you
can’t, you shouldn’t, what if…. Fear keeps us from taking risks that might
enrich our life or holds us back from doing some things we need to do.
Experience new and exciting vistas? Accomplish something really great? Fear
says “No" to all risks, real or imagined.
This isn’t to say that
fear is all bad. At its best it’s an instinctive, natural ability to help us
survive. Without fear we might attempt to stroll across freeways or scratch
behind a lion’s ears. But given the upper hand, fear can dominate our life and
make even the innocuous—taking a walk or answering the phone—a daunting
experience.
Even if ninety-nine percent of
what we worry about never happens, we still hold onto certain fears because they seem so real.
On its own, fear won’t
disappear. Following are some strategies to help you deal with fears that might
be holding you back from something you want or need to do.
• Get information. In an information void, fear clicks in to do what
it thinks is its job. But when you find out about what scares you, you replace
fear with knowledge.
