'Fraidy Cat
When I was a kid, I absolutely dreaded losing my teeth. I knew it was completely natural and completely necessary, but I didn't like it. My dad was a force to be reckoned with when it came to coercing my baby teeth to come out. He would do whatever was necessary to get those suckers out of there - everything from reaching right in and wiggling the loose tooth (sounds gross, I know) to yanking them out (even worse). All in the name of making sure that I didn't look like a shark with several rows of teeth in my child-sized mouth. I've seen this horrible affliction in a real, live child. Not pleasant.
Just this summer, a great friend of mine told me something that I thought was fantastic. She said that she tries to do something each day that she feels nervous about. I loved the idea. It added to my recurring observation that too many people allow fear to play too large of a role in life. If I think carefully about the phrases I've heard most frequently in the recent past, "I'm scared" or "it's freaking me out" would definitely be right up at the top of the list. I can only think of too many situations where fear has come out on top over and over again. But, really...
What are we so afraid of?
Pain, loss, failure, discomfort, the amount of effort and work it would take to get to where we know we should be, admitting that we're wrong, judgement from others, the past, the present, the future, losing ourselves, being wrong about anything in general... the list would go on for days.
Here's what I've come to understand. There are few things in this world that would make a person more self-centered and narcissistic than fear. We run into something that freaks us out, we run away, focus inwardly and forget to think about things outside of ourselves. Everything becomes distorted when we can't think about things from any perspective other than our own. It affects relationships on every level - fear wrecks friendships, families, dating realtionships, marriages, organizations and society as a whole. How can we hope for the world to change when we're too scared to deal with what's right in front of us?
Maybe we all need to do something each day that makes us a little nervous. Worst case scenario, things might suck as a result, but probably not forever. We might even become stronger because of it. Maybe we'll see in retrospect that it needed to be done to make room for something great to grow, despite how much it hurt at the time.
And besides, who really wants to walk around looking like a shark? Honestly.
Just this summer, a great friend of mine told me something that I thought was fantastic. She said that she tries to do something each day that she feels nervous about. I loved the idea. It added to my recurring observation that too many people allow fear to play too large of a role in life. If I think carefully about the phrases I've heard most frequently in the recent past, "I'm scared" or "it's freaking me out" would definitely be right up at the top of the list. I can only think of too many situations where fear has come out on top over and over again. But, really...
What are we so afraid of?
Pain, loss, failure, discomfort, the amount of effort and work it would take to get to where we know we should be, admitting that we're wrong, judgement from others, the past, the present, the future, losing ourselves, being wrong about anything in general... the list would go on for days.
Here's what I've come to understand. There are few things in this world that would make a person more self-centered and narcissistic than fear. We run into something that freaks us out, we run away, focus inwardly and forget to think about things outside of ourselves. Everything becomes distorted when we can't think about things from any perspective other than our own. It affects relationships on every level - fear wrecks friendships, families, dating realtionships, marriages, organizations and society as a whole. How can we hope for the world to change when we're too scared to deal with what's right in front of us?
Maybe we all need to do something each day that makes us a little nervous. Worst case scenario, things might suck as a result, but probably not forever. We might even become stronger because of it. Maybe we'll see in retrospect that it needed to be done to make room for something great to grow, despite how much it hurt at the time.
And besides, who really wants to walk around looking like a shark? Honestly.
posted by Sabs at 11:47 PM
3 Comments:
well said friend, well said.
i've started incorporating that thought pattern into my life, whats the worst that can happen right?
I only get caught up when my 'taking the plunge' can affect someone else negatively. so i keep those baby teeth.
If Jason could walk around looking like a shark, or at least a shark-human hybrid, I think he would.
Haha. No worries, Meliss. You and I both know what a scared church looks like... it's bad all around. It's neat that you saw my words could have that kind of spin on them, without my meaning to make it that way.
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