Don’t Let Fear Run Or Ruin Your Life
Fear can hold us back, or drive us forward. Fear can enable us or completely destroy and disable it. Fear can hold you back or be your driving force. The choice is up to you, 100%. You can overcome your fear and move forward with your life or stop short and stop living.
See if I let fear hold me back, I never would have phoned Vince, I would never be boarding a plane in under 48 hours and flying 5K miles to go to Florida. You see I have plenty of fears, and many things in this trip are forcing me to overcome them. You see, I have a fear of flying…I am flying pretty much from one end of the continent to the other. I have a social anxiety disorder! That’s right. Just 6 months ago I could barely venture to the grocery store without a full force panic attack ensuing. Imagine how outside my comfort zone I am placing myself now. I’ve always feared coast side places, the sheer number of natural disasters that can occur are beyond my comfort level. But I am not letting fear live my life, instead I am living it and overcoming my fears. And you know what? It feels damn good.
That’s right. Overcoming my fears and doing things that are so unlike me and are so far removed from my comfort zone has given me a new outlook on life. You see, I’m no longer afraid. Sure I may for the entire flight feel like vomiting or crying, but I will be on that plane and you know what, next time won’t seem so bad.
So stop letting your fears run your life. Run your own life, step outside the comfort zone and truely appreciate all that life has to offer, even if it makes you a little bit uncomfortable. You never know what you can or cannot do till you try and if fear had it’s way, you will never get anywhere in life.
Have a great day and chances are the next entry will be written in sunny Florida!
One Response to “Don’t Let Fear Run Or Ruin Your Life”
Dear Sylvia,
I have the greatest respect for a person who, like you, was able to beat fear of flying by force of will. To do so is truly character-building. When I first started doing fear of flying programs in 1982, I sought to inspire people to do what you did. Some could; some couldn’t. A few years later, I discovered a way to deactivate (temporarily) the amygdala (the part of the brain that triggers fear). For a while, I grappled with the problem of whether to teach this new way that made flying easy, or continue with the character-building way. Finally, I decided to teach both. So, people who can use their fear of flying for character-building can do that, and people who MUST have a way to deactivate the fear system have that. I have some videos posted at http://www.youtube.com/user/CaptTomBunn on how to do this.