What are you afraid of? Like for real. It can be any type of fear, real or imagined. It is my belief that we should overcome certain fears if they are getting in the way of our progress or overall health and well-being. There are some fears that can be so overwhelming that we may just not be able to function.
When we were kids we really didn’t seem to have that many fears, we usually just kept going unless our parents reacted in a shocking way. You know, like when you busted your @$$ on a skateboard and you look over at your loved ones and decide whether or not it was catastrophic. That’s why I did my best not to freak out when my girls fell off their bikes. 9 out of 10 they got back up with a bit of tears in their eyes and hopped back on.
Our fears can really make a mess out of things. I recently came to the conclusion that I was afraid of heights. It sucks because when I was younger I used to climb coconut trees, jump off the roof into the pool, jumped off bridges, and more. I guess so much time has gone by without me doing many things like that that I seemed to have developed a fear of it. In my late 20s and early 30s, I did zip-lining through canopy rain forests, repelled, and all kinds of cool stuff.
I want to change that. According to psychologists, the way to get over fears is to create exposure to the fear on purpose. Well, it really didn’t need to come from the medical people as I have known this for years but chose otherwise. I have heard stories of people that were afraid of spiders for example and they really wanted to overcome their fear.
Small steps at the beginning such as thinking about the fear, then moving on to images of the fear (if it is a physical one), then coming around said fear from a distance, then so on, and so on until there is an ability to push through it. I think that is super cool! Super scary, but super cool.
Exposure to what you are afraid of in small doses will help you get through it, you just have to be willing and step forward. Develop courage, because you can overcome your fears. Just remember to break things down into smaller pieces and you have to voluntarily approach it. It’s up to you. Develop coping skills.
For me, I really will have to approach things in a new way. My past spinal surgeons all scared the heck out of me to the point where I literally stopped doing cool stuff that tested my limits. They would say, “One fall on your tailbone, and you are done!” That’s pretty scary, right?! I have had four surgeries on my back and neck through the past decade and I don’t want to have more.
But I ask you this, what is the point of living if you can’t enjoy the hell out of your life? Why should we always play everything safe? I know that for me once I had kids I really stopped doing the crazy stuff that tested me. I don’t want my girls to do the same. Those girls haven’t even ever gotten a broken bone, a fractured bone, or even a sprained ankle. I need to amp it up again!
Conclusion
We can be afraid of so many things, irrational or not, they are still fears that may be keeping us from living our best lives. Don’t do that to yourself. But also please don’t go Kamikaze! Figure that on your own and don’t come back to us and said we said so! Ha
Question
What fears do you have? Are they rational or not and what would you like to do about it?
