FEEL THE FEAR - AND DO IT ANYWAY

What is fear? Webster defines fear as “To be afraid,” or to be “frightened or apprehensive.”

Fear can be paralyzing. Fear can cause us to expect the worst. Fear can be incapacitating. Just imagine that you had just been diagnosed with what was to you a fate almost worth than death.

I have known paralyzing fear, and I have learned the secret to overcoming that fear. When I was much younger I was a very fearful person. My first memory of being fearful was when I was an adolescent.

      I was afraid of death.
      I was afraid of being sick – probably because of my fear of death.
      I was afraid to fly.
      I was very fearful in elevators.
      I was fearful of sitting in the middle of a long row at a theater.
      I was afraid to drive long distances alone.

As I got older I became afraid to leave my house. For years I had what is known as agoraphobia – a fear of open spaces. I was OK as long as I was home, but just going to a grocery store alone was paralyzing.

In short, I was an acutely fearful person. I had a friend many years ago who was a commercial airline pilot, and he talked me into taking a class to get over my fear of flying. It was taught by a psychologist and a senior TWA pilot. Since that class series (once a week for six weeks) I have flown over much of the world. In the process I learned that I was never afraid of flying, or of elevators, etc., I WAS AFRAID OF FEAR. I was paralyzed by my fear of having a panic attack – basically a fear of fear!

But I have good news for you . . . the answer to paralyzing fear is really simple. I learned it in that class to overcome my fear of flying. 

The answer:

                 FEEL THE FEAR AND DO IT ANYWAY!

Once you do whatever it was that you thought you were afraid of, you break free from the fear and it no longer has any hold on you. In my case in short order all my fears disappeared. As I think back to all those years when I was so fearful, it is still difficult for me to believe that the answer was so simple.

Whether your fears play a small or major role in your life, why not look those demons in the face and not allow them to reduce the quality of your life for even one more day.  YOU CAN DO IT.

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I AM NOT A MEDICALLY TRAINED PERSON,
AND I DO NOT GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE