I’m heaving, groaning, puffing a sack of fears. Fear of what I don’t know, fear of what I’ll regret, fear of failure, fear of the unknown. Everything that’s ever weighed or weighs me down can be rooted in fear. Maybe that’s true for everyone.
Of course, there’s nothing naturally wrong with being afraid. But outside of dangerous situations, fear just feels like an unmanageable roadblock. Even if we all know, perhaps ironically, that our fears are often groundless, we let them determine our path anyway. Worse yet, we pack them neatly in the dark cave of our minds, never allowing them to shrivel in the light.
If I think back to the things I’ve feared most in my life, they were usually hard and uncomfortable changes I needed to make. It’s a disturbing, frustrating order of operations. So here’s the list of the things I would like to do if I weren’t scared
Pet a lizard
I have this so-called herpetophobia which means, fear of reptiles, specifically snakes and lizards. I am not that afraid to touch a snake but when it comes to lizards, even just looking at them at the ceiling, I feel the weird feeling inside me making me uncomfortable and my nerves are tightening. There’s this one time I accidentally touched a lizard, I remembered how cold its skin was and very soft but I don’t like it. The next day I got a very high fever. I really want to overcome my fear of lizards because it’s so difficult to sleep at night checking the ceiling if there are any lizards above me.
Drive a motorcycle
I already practiced driving a motorcycle but every time my brother stops guiding me, I am thinking of crashing down on the road, that’s why I panic and my brother will scold me. I never practiced driving my motorcycle again. I am sad because I bought it for myself but I just can’t seem to use it.
Swimming
I love going to the beach but I don’t know how to swim. I have a cousin who is a professional swimmer, I was hugging his neck at the back and I didn’t notice that we are so far from the shore already. He suddenly removes my arms around his neck and I panic because I cannot touch the sand under the sea. I was imagining sharks, whales, sea monsters, sea snakes, and the sea that could turn into black. It's a good thing he took me and he was just laughing. I did not talk to him after that. It was a near-death experience indeed haha
Take Exams
There have been many chamces that opened for me to take my licensure exam but I chose not to yet because I feel like I’m gonna fail. I’ve been spending so much time reviewing until I got tired and until now I still don’t find the courage to do it. I am not being pressured by my family or friends. I just wanted to overcome this so I could be done with this prolonged agony. Maybe someday, I’ll be brave to take the opportunity and be ready for failures and success.
Confront people
Life is not complete without having Marites and Karen in our lives. I‘ve become the center of their topic before which I heard personally. I tried to ignore it but people have no limit on their satisfaction, they made up the worst stories about me. I wanted to confront them and slap their faces for spreading false pieces of information about but I chose not to because if I did, it’s just the same as stooping down on their level. I am also afraid that if I will confront them, they will turn the tables on me making me the bad guy.
Those are the things I would do if I eradicate my major fears. It’s a satisfying framing through which to challenge the status quo. The same format, I think, can be applied to challenge our idea of the future, if we re-frame it around fear: What’s one thing that, if you weren’t afraid to do it, might change your whole life? Do you know? Have you thought about it? What’s one thing you’d do today, tomorrow, this year if you weren’t so damn afraid?
Lead image from Google.Thank you so much 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇
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