Facing Our Fears
Many of our fears today are acquired fear, … fears that we learn and adopt as we grow up.
eg. Babies don’t fear of failing. Babies who learn to stand, keep getting back up when they fall.
Fear of disappointments, pain and suffering?
Fear of certain animals, of water, of heights?
We tend to imagine the worst possible outcome, instead of the better / best possible outcome.
Today, I’m reminded that when we are faced with our fears, some of the things we can do are: learn to rationalise / talk ourself out of it / focus on something else / be thankful to God for something …
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We tend to imagine the worst possible outcome, instead of the better / best possible outcomeI still have a phobia towards a certain creature (thanks to what my helper did to me when I was little!).
I cannot be near it, and when I see a glimpse of it, I’d irrationally react before I could properly think.
But then I remember the time when I was with our church’s humanitarian aid team a few months ago.
We stayed in a small village hit by an earthquake in Sulawesi.
Their small ‘shower cubicle’ (on the right in the picture) is also the place they’d wash their dishes.
Their small ‘shower cubicle’ is also the place they’d wash their dishes Just outside of it, is the kitchen and where they’d wash their food, etc.
I remember, as I hung my clothes on rusty nails at the back of the cubicle door, I spotted ‘it’, the creature I terribly fear, at the corner of the door itself!
I knew I couldn’t scream or run out, so somehow I decided to turn my back, took off my glasses (so everything is a BLUR!) and took a quick shower (yes I washed my hair, too, with the cold water taken from the concrete water tub)
(Not wearing my glasses was great because I didn’t need to see what the water truly looked like).
My heart was beating like mad, and thoughts crossed my mind.
What if it slipped into one of my clothes I hung on the door?
What if it fell onto my arm as I take my clothes?
What it walked towards my feet?
What if. What if.
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In the end, I survived the close encounter with what I so terribly fear.
None of those ‘worries’ happened.
Phew!
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So, am I cured? NO.
Do I now think of ‘it’ as cute? NO.
Is the phobia still there? YES.
But I guess, I know now, that when certain situations come up and ‘I have no other choice’, it IS possible to face my fear.
And that, is good enough for me.
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How do YOU face / cure your fear?
