I think it's important to face your fears. It's the only way - I believe - to overcome them. I will be the first to say, it ain't an easy thing to do. It's a lot easier to keep your fears at a distance - just pretending they're not there. But, is that really living?
I have/had some silly fears - driving a stick shift (!!), and this weird fear of all things gas related - starting a grill, relighting the pilot light - I know - silly. But then I have the usuals such as flying and heights. My fear of flying really started to take over my life for awhile there. But I was determined NOT to be one of those people who never went anywhere because they are scared. Think about how many cool places you miss out on by refusing to fly. The more I fly, the more relaxed I'm becoming on a plane.
I really try to do *something* that scares me everyday. It doesn't always happen, but usually it does. For instance, one night this week, the pilot light went out on the stove (see paragraph above) and I was in the middle of making dinner. The stove was an essential part of this equation. Shit. Adam wasn't home yet and I knew wouldn't be for a while. He is having a long week this week - lots of overtime in cold temps - I wanted him to have a nice warm meal when he got home. He showed me at one point how to light the darn thing. I have to admit though - I didn't really pay attention because it freaks me out so much I thought I would never do it. Hoping he'd be home every time it needed to be re-lit.
I decided to suck it up, face it and light it up. I'm sure it was a really funny scene - I was thinking the entire house was going to blow the SECOND I flicked the lighter...I reluctantly sparked it up (with my eyes closed) and when I didn't go up in flames, I was pretty psyched. I hadn't even bent down to the stove yet. The whole process took a few minutes...I bent down, waved the lighter around (one little piece of info I happenend to remember from Adam's lesson was something about waving the flame in front of the stove first to make sure a lot of gas didn't escape). Eventually I got the flame close enough to light the pilot light. Well, you would have thought I had just cured cancer, I was walking around the house so proud of myself. Plus, I was able to check one off the list.
Got a "silly" fear? I wanna hear it!
4 comments:
I don't know how silly it is, but I (Zack) am scared to death of bats. Any shape, any size, I hate 'em all.
bats. I bet that's a common one - they are creepy looking!
i don't like snakes, but i don't consider that a 'silly' fear--that one is for real!
I am scared of strangers touching me... water... anything that flies (bats, bees, flies, even butterflies, birds, etc.)... Pet Cemetary (thanks brothers)... the ocean... flying over any water freaks me out... I think my biggest fear is drowning. But I think Adam is going to try to make me over come that in a kayak. :) :) :)
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