What are you scared of?
- Claire
- May 22, 2016
- 3 min read
Dealing with fear is something we all face, probably on a daily basis on some level. The world we live in is filled with messages telling us what we have to be scared of, what we should worry about .... mainly cleverly disguised in advertising for products that might somehow protect us from whatever the fearsome thing is. This little gem recently appeared in my facebook feed, and really got me thinking a lot.
We are constantly being told what we have to be scared of, and the media seems to love nothing more than a big disaster, drama and horrors...circling like vultures looking for the little titbit that might make people change channel to watch THEIR news, or buy THEIR newspaper today.
The everyday events that really pose a threat to our LIFE are far from exciting, and preventing them involves no product placement, no profit for corporations.
How can you sell something that would truly prevent everyone from falling down flights of stairs?
How can you totally eradicate any chance of someone getting in a car and driving after a few beers?
What on earth could possibly really rule out the chance of people falling asleep and drowning in the bath?
We all go about our lives knowing about these dangers and doing what we can to prevent them, but I doubt many people lose much sleep over these very real problems. We accept them, we move on and live our lives, driving to work, taking the stairs.....
A great way to face fear might perhaps be to think about how real the 'risk' is, what are we REALLY scared of? Pretty much any fear we have can be managed either by:-
1) taking action and changing our life or habits
e.g. eating a healthy diet full of fresh local veg, fruit, fish and meat, prepared lovingly and carefully, exercising regularly and optimizing sleep - to prevent a massive raft of modern disease and illness, including depression and stress
OR investing in a god pension plan to provide for a comfortable life after work
OR joining a dating website to meet the partner of our dreams, to live a happy fulfilled life with companionship and love
2) Rationalize the fear - will worrying stop it happening? The answer is always no. What EXACTLY are we scared of and how likely is that thing to happen? Is the potential outcome going to benefit me or a loved one? - often the answer will be, yes it will... In which case, it is a matter of trust, faith and accepting that nothing can grow without first breaking slightly.........the embryo of a seed has to break out of the seed, destroying the seed, to transform into a plant, the plant has to be cut and broken up to be transformed into food to feed us!
3) Realizing the fear has been implanted be something or someone external, and if we had not been exposed to that message - we'd never have worried about that 'danger' in the first place!
So, with that in mind..... have a think, which of my fears are real ans which are implanted? Which of them are manageable by taking action? Which of them need rationalizing? Which need accepting because the activities benefit a loved one... or even, a stranger (something every single person in the forces worldwide accepts daily)
And finally - this fab TED talk by Kim Ingleby - of Energised Performance sums up something wonderful about adapting to change in scary situations.....
