Posts Tagged With: dealing with fear

Day 4418: Who is going to have the courage?

As the current USA administration is wreaking havoc at home and abroad, many of us are asking who is going to have the courage to oppose and stop those who are abusing their power.

Yesterday, I asked “Who is going to have the courage?” on the elon-gated, e-musk-ulated platform formerly known as Twitter.

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I agree that it has to be thee and me.

What will help give us the courage? We need to let go of our fears about taking action.

Yesterday, I spoke with somebody who was paralyzed with fear. We agreed that asking oneself “What’s the worst that could happen?” and “What can I do if the worst DOES happen?” can help dispel panic.

Here goes: What’s the worst that can happen if we have the courage to try and stop this villainy?

There may be retribution and revenge. Lately, I’ve been wondering about the wisdom of always using my real name on social media, especially since I get Social Security payments from a system that is now controlled illegally by Musk.

What can we do if there is retribution and revenge? We can reach out to each other, organize, and take collective action.

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We can also accept all our feelings and focus on self-care to maintain our courage and energy for the long haul.

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On Disaster Day, I’m wondering what I’ll find when I search for “who is going to have the courage?” on YouTube.

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Who is going to have the courage to leave a comment, below?

Thanks to all who are here for this who-is-going-to-have-the-courage? post, including YOU.

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism, the resistance | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Day 4043: Encouragement

I think we all need encouragement these days, and that’s why I took this picture at our local supermarket last week.

I needed some encouragement to get myself through a difficult week, including preparing for a colonoscopy yesterday.

For decades, comedian Robert Klein has been a source of encouragement for me, and here’s an encouraging and timely song from him:

Robert Klein singing “Colonoscopy” gives me encouragement to refocus on my own song-writing and singing. Tomorrow, I have a lesson with the wonderful teacher who helped me prepare tryouts for The Voice. I’ve been feeling some fear and insecurity about performing lately, so I’m looking forward to her encouragement.

Do you see encouragement in my other images for today?

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Where do you find encouragement?

Thanks to all those who give and receive encouragement, including YOU!

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Day 3199: Find your happy place

Yesterday, when I was at a local mall, happy to be masked, fully vaccinated, and picking up my new replacement phone at the Apple store, I saw this:

I find my happy place at home, at work, on this blog, on Twitter, and, always, with people and other creatures I love.

Can you find happy places in my other images for today?

Believing that report about COVID from today’s New York Times helps me find my happy place.

Listening to this yesterday when I was taking my daily walk helped me find my happy place:

I hope you find your happy place in the comments section, below.

Gratitude always helps me find my happy place, so thanks to all who are visiting today’s happy blog post, including YOU!

Categories: life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Day 2382: Big Fear

Here and now, what’s your big fear?

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Take a moment.

Breathe, close your eyes, and allow your mind, body, AND soul  to respond to that question.

Again,  here and now, what’s your big fear?

Does your big fear have to do with …

  • money?
  • people’s responses to you?
  • being judged?
  • the unknown?
  • changes you’ve chosen?
  • changes you have not chosen?
  • stagnation?
  • being trapped?
  • betrayal?
  • abandonment?
  • authority figures?
  • being misunderstood?
  • being manipulated?
  • being ignored?
  • time running out?
  • being forgotten?
  • forgetting things?
  • feeling too much?
  • feeling too little?
  • knowing too much?
  • knowing too little?
  • having too much?
  • having too little?
  • loss?
  • anger?
  • guilt?
  • shame?
  • being hurt?
  • hurting others?
  • turning out just like so-and-so?
  • family?
  • strangers?
  • people?
  • animals?
  • bugs?
  • not knowing what to say?
  • saying the wrong thing?
  • not being seen?
  • being seen?
  • your behaviors?
  • other people’s behaviors?
  • order?
  • chaos?
  • limitations?
  • failing?
  • succeeding?
  • heights?
  • depths?
  • violence?
  • the past?
  • the future?
  • aging?
  • pain?
  • death?
  • fear itself?

Do you see big fear in my other big photographs from yesterday?

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What helps you deal with big fear?

  • Naming it?
  • Sharing it?
  • Calculating the possibility that it will come true?
  • Accepting it?
  • Letting it go?
  • Self care?

When I search YouTube for “big fear” I find this …

… this …

… and this:

 

Fear not! All comments about big fear are welcome, below.

Big thanks to all who help me create this big blog and all who read it (including YOU).

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Categories: group therapy, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Day 1744: What scares you?

What scares you?

The news?

The weather?

Fire?

Water?

The future?

The present?

Heights?

Depths?

Weapons?

Other people?

Yourself?

Illness?

Poverty?

Ignorance?

Information overload?

Responsibility?

Helplessness?

Evil?

Death?

War?

Loss?

Snakes?

Insects?

Physical pain?

Emotional pain?

Trying new things?

Failure?

Thoughts?

Feelings?

The phone?

Public speaking?

Animals?

Demons?

Humans?

Any of these photos?

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A search of “What Scares You?” on YouTube returns this:

 

Scary movies scare me, so I won’t watch any more of that.

When something scares you, what do you do?

Flee?

Freeze?

Fight?

Name it?

Share it?

Feel free to share what scares you, below.

Thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and to you — of course! — no matter what scares you.

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

Day 600: Scary things

Hey!  I see by my post title that I am blogging for the 600th consecutive day!

Round numbers can seem important, and important things can seem scary, don’t you think?

Yes, this post is going to focus on “scary things.”  However, since I like balance, I’m assuming there will be “unscary things” here,  too.

Shall we get started?

Wait! Something’s missing.  For me, when something is missing, it’s often music.

Friends, bloggers, and country-people, lend me your ears* … for some scary background music.

My first scary-music choice is from The Blair Witch Project, a film that scared the bejeesus out of me.

If The Blair Witch Project isn’t your taste, how about music from The Shining?

(found here on YouTube)

How about “Tubular Bells” from The Exorcist?

One final warning: Those music choices will probably start with advertisements.**

Okay!  Without further ado, choices, or other types of stalling,** I hereby present:

Things That Have Scared Me

(in alphabetical order)

  1. Anger
  2. Babies
  3. Cruelty
  4. Doctors
  5. Expletives
  6. Films
  7. Germs
  8. Hospitals
  9. Injustice
  10. Justice systems
  11. Know-it-alls
  12. Loud noises
  13. Mistakes
  14. Neglect
  15. Onions
  16. Planes
  17. Quitting
  18. Rage
  19. Shame
  20. Technology
  21. Underestimating
  22. Violence
  23. Witches
  24. Xerox machines
  25. Youth-obsessed cultures
  26. Zoos

Things That Have Not Scared Me

(in alphabetical order)

  1. Aging
  2. Babies
  3. Cats
  4. Doctors
  5. Expletives
  6. Foreigners
  7. Giants
  8. Humans
  9. Insecurity
  10. Justice
  11. Knowledge
  12. Love
  13. Movies
  14. Needs
  15. Onions
  16. Public speaking
  17. Quiet
  18. Risk-taking
  19. Spiders
  20. Therapy
  21. Underworlds
  22. Violent weather
  23. Wicked (the musical)
  24. X-rays
  25. Youth
  26. Zoos

What do you think of these scary and unscary things? Don’t be scared of disagreement,** please.

Geesh!  That was scary!  I almost pressed the WordPress** “publish” button without including the image that inspired this whole post, to begin with.

Yesterday, when my bf Michael and I were on our first walk since my return home from Edinburgh, I saw this:

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WTF IS THAT?

Thanks to Wikipedia**; to those who are scared or unscared by all the things mentioned in this post; to the creative people who score movies (scary and otherwise);  to lists** of scary things on the internet** (including this list); and to you, especially, because you don’t scare me!


*  Spending a week immersed in comedy at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (see here, here, here, here, and here) has definitely had an effect on me. My thought, as I wrote “lend me your ears,” was this: “I’m glad Vincent Van Gogh is not alive to read this.”  Minds can be scary things, can’t they?

**  Another scary thing (that didn’t make the lists).

Categories: humor, Nostalgia, personal growth, photojournalism, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 39 Comments

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