We are afraid of the wrong things

FEAR!!! That infamous little word that has the ability to take our breath away, tie our tongues and serve as a deterrent to the great unknown. Safety and security of our world always preferred.

We learn about fear throughout our life journey- whether by experiencing traumatic events ourselves or even seeing fear in others. We are a nation (humanity even) where fear has been carefully instilled into our very being. Everyday we read papers, watch news, TV or movies all expressing fear in some form or another. We fear failure, rejection, being alone, intimacy, “what the people might say”, death and ultimately life.

I often think that fear often stems from our belief in the norm… the realities we create… our beliefs about life – ultimately a collection of what we have been taught, our experiences and what the media would like us to believe what life is all about. The happily-ever-after syndrome where people are perfect and don’t make mistakes. Stepping out of this reality becomes the unthinkable.

Yet what happens when we decide to lift this veil, take-off the blinkers and venture into the unknown? What happens when we actually do those things we think we cannot do? What happens when we stare our fears in the face?

For every fear conquered we gain strength, courage and confidence we thought we never had. I truly believe that we think about security more than we think about opportunity. I truly believe that people are often afraid to live and unleash their own potential. By being too afraid to live and experience, we may never have invented the telephone, electricity, heck we may never have been able to fly.

In our world of dynamic change, experience is our best teacher. And learning from experience means experiencing the consequences of your thoughts and actions, something many of us would rather not face. If we had no unpleasant consequences for our actions, how could we possibly learn and attain higher levels of understanding?

So to face our fears, we need to stop being both the sheep and sheep dog of the “norm”. Yes we are a part of society, but society is nothing but the sum total of our thoughts and feelings… a reflection of our attitudes. By expressing our uniqueness of view and lifestyle, even if it differs from the norm, we cease to be the sheep. By allowing everyone else to do the same, without fear of being ridiculed or condemned for the crime of being different, we cease to be the sheep dog. By creating an environment where free will and choice is respected, we create an environment where we are free to live, and not afraid of life.