I noticed that I woke up this morning with a few fears.
American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, in his first inauguration speech on March 3, 1933:
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
I fear that might not be the ONLY thing we have to fear, since there’s so much
- confusion,
- pain,
- injustice,
- sickness,
- cruelty, and
- other misfortunes, all around us.
I have no fear, however, that FDR had something very important to tell us, because if we
- fear our own fears,
- are anxious about our anxieties,
- get depressed about our depressions,
- become sick about our sicknesses
… we multiply our pain, which can become overwhelming and paralyzing.
So how do we let go of fear, which I fear I’ve promised some practical solutions about, today?
I fear that fear can become overwhelming if we don’t name it.
I have already named that I have some fears today. I can now face some fears, one by one.
Fear du Jour #1: I fear I will say the wrong thing to a vulnerable, fearful person today, at work.
I am glad I’ve named that fear. By expressing that here and now, I can now remember that
- I’ve encountered that kind of situation at work before and
- I’ve dealt with it, well enough.
Voila! I let go of that fear or — at least — reduced it to a manageable size.
That was easier than I expected. I fear that my next fear might be harder to let go.
Let’s deal with that fear about fear immediately, shall we?
Fear du Jour #2: I fear that friggin’ Federal Express will not deliver my tickets to see Todd Rundgren in concert, without more unnecessary suffering for me.
I am glad I named that fear, too, because, at least, I got to tell my loyal blog readers that I am quite annoyed with Federal Express. I fear if I get started, this post will turn into
Day 829: Why Federal Express SUCKS
which would be fun for me but, I fear, not particularly helpful for you.
I fear, however, that I must show you this delivery I found from Federal Express, yesterday:
Any fears about that? Here are my fears:
- They won’t let me sign for the package, allowing them to leave the tickets in a future delivery,
- I have to go to friggin’ Needham Massachusetts if I want to pick up my tickets, which is fearfully far away from here,
- Wait! I have to go to friggin’ Neeham, Massachusetts to pick them up, which doesn’t even exist,
- When I tried to control my destiny last night by choosing a reasonable time for the next attempted ticket delivery when somebody who lives here might actually hear the friggin’ doorbell, the friggin’ fedex website asked me some fearfully private questions to confirm the friggin’ delivery, as if there is something to fear about ME GETTING MY OWN TICKETS,
- The website didn’t work, I fear,
- The nice Federal Express guy I reached on the phone last night told me he feared there was nothing he could do to set the delivery time I wanted, and
- There’s a big VOID on that door ticket, which reminds me of the existential void we all fear as human beings.
I fear I may be fearing Federal Express too much.
However, I feel better.
Fear du Jour #3: The surgery I’m getting the day after the Todd Rundgren concert might not help my very unusual heart enough, which might necessitate future fear-inducing surgery like a heart valve replacement or, more likely, an eventual heart transplant.
Hey! Who wouldn’t fear something like that?
However, as with the other fears, naming that fear helped me. Now I know I have a right to have my fear (as we always have the right to feel our own feelings).
And, I realize that fear is about the future, which I cannot really know or control.
I hope you do not fear questions from me, because I have two more, now:
Are all fears future-oriented? Since we cannot know or control the future, why not let go of fear, as best we can?
Fear du Jour #4: The photos I took yesterday will not match the topic of today’s post.
Again, I feel better now that I named that fear. I shall now let go of that fear even further, by sharing these photos:
Anything to fear, there?
Just one more photo, I fear:
I fear that somebody might quickly read that as EXPEAT, by mistake.
In case you fear saying anything at all, below, remember this:
Did you fear I forgot to include some music about fear?
Never fear:
Do not fear that “Don’t Fear the Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult or “Don’t be Afraid of the Dark” by Robert Cray aren’t available elsewhere, if you don’t see them here. They’re both on YouTube, fearlessly.
Thanks to all who helped me create this fear-ful post and special thanks to you (no matter how much fear or what kinds of fears you’ve experienced, so far, in your precious life).