2008 Woodie Awards
The other side of fear
by Matthew Jackson
Issue date: 8/18/08 Section: Opinion
Often in our lives we bring upon ourselves exactly the things we fear most. This is a recent epiphany I have had. It may not be news to many, but it is news to me. And I suspect it will be news to someone else. If this article only touches one other person, it's worth it.
I have always been told that fear was a very healthy thing. It let's us know when we are in danger and drives the instinct to flee from that danger.
But the question I ask myself right now is when does fear change from healthy instinct to a debilitating disorder?
I have struggled for some time now with anxiety and depression and what I find is that overall, it is fear that affects me most.
Fear of what I don't know, fear of what is coming and, most affecting, the fear of missing out on something.
But what I find is that the more I worry about these things the more they seem to affect me. Take my personal relationships, for example. Whenever I date, I have this constant fear that something is going to go wrong.
Often I end up making the mistake, because I am too preoccupied by my fear to pay any attention. My fear has brought about what I feared in the first place. Self-fulfilling prophecy anyone?
It has taken me a long time to come to what now seems like a simple conclusion. Now I am not trying to say that fear is just something that is going to ruin a person's life and that one should avoid it at all costs.
What I am saying is that a person should embrace their fear, see what it has to show them and act accordingly. What is to be avoided is letting the fear take over.
Fear is supposed to be a tool our mind uses to protect us, not an emotion that brings about exactly what it was meant to prevent.
I have always been told that fear was a very healthy thing. It let's us know when we are in danger and drives the instinct to flee from that danger.
But the question I ask myself right now is when does fear change from healthy instinct to a debilitating disorder?
I have struggled for some time now with anxiety and depression and what I find is that overall, it is fear that affects me most.
Fear of what I don't know, fear of what is coming and, most affecting, the fear of missing out on something.
But what I find is that the more I worry about these things the more they seem to affect me. Take my personal relationships, for example. Whenever I date, I have this constant fear that something is going to go wrong.
Often I end up making the mistake, because I am too preoccupied by my fear to pay any attention. My fear has brought about what I feared in the first place. Self-fulfilling prophecy anyone?
It has taken me a long time to come to what now seems like a simple conclusion. Now I am not trying to say that fear is just something that is going to ruin a person's life and that one should avoid it at all costs.
What I am saying is that a person should embrace their fear, see what it has to show them and act accordingly. What is to be avoided is letting the fear take over.
Fear is supposed to be a tool our mind uses to protect us, not an emotion that brings about exactly what it was meant to prevent.
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