The Fear

We all have fears.  Secret fears, well known fears… at some level, we’re all scared of something.

When I was a senior in undergrad, I had to read a book called The Portable Therapist by Susanna McMahon.  Though I tend to shy away from any kind of self-help type book, I actually took a few key thoughts from it.  Most notably, on fear. 

“Courage is not defined as a lack of fear.  Rather, courage means doing something in spite of your fear.  It is not courageous to do something that we are not afraid of doing.  If we are afraid and still do it, we are doing the hero’s task.  Paradoxically, the more we do when we are afraid, the less fear we have.  And the less we do with our fear, the more power the fear assumes over us.” – Dr. Susanna McMahon

One of my biggest fears used to be flying.  Just thinking about flying would send me into a panic.  A lot of this has to do with ignorance.  I had never even been on a plane, but I was still afraid. I avoided traveling.  I drove anywhere I needed to go.  It wasn’t until I was 18 that I flew for the first time.  I actually found myself kind of enjoying the experience and feeling somewhat excited, but that was all squashed by my overwhelming fear of the plane just “dropping” out of the sky.

I didn’t fly again until I was 23.  Prior to getting on that plane, I did a TON of research.  I ended up here: http://www.fearofflyinghelp.com/

Yes, I went through this little online “program” to help with my fear of flying.  My friends are a-holes (oh hai guys, I kid!) and they made fun of me for this FOREVER, but seriously, it helped!  It helped just knowing how a plane works, what turbulence is, what clouds cause turbulence, how infrequent and rare airline accidents are, and so forth.  Seriously, and I kid you not when I say this, my fear was gone.  Not because that little “course” was some intensive experience, I just realized I was afraid because I didn’t understand.

I now LOVE to fly.  Love it!  I’ve flown about 5 round trips in the past year.  Traveling is one of my favorite pastimes, and getting there is part of the fun for me now.  When the plane drops and shakes, I don’t feel fear, because I understand why it happens.   I always request a window seat, because I spend most of my time looking out at the ground.  I’m excited to take off and land, and I take a million pictures along the way.   

Honestly though, planes are awesome.  They take me from this:

To this:

 In 2.5 hours.  

What fears do you have (or used to have)?