Fear

Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
Jim Morrison

Have you ever heard the saying “Do something that scares you every day?” Honestly, I think it is one of the stupidest sayings I have ever heard, and really makes no sense.  I mean, how is it even possible to do something every single day that scares you, unless you are afraid of almost everything?  Well, despite the way I feel about that saying, I do think it is important to try things that scare you every once in a while.  New experiences are great, and not trying something just because it is scary doesn’t seem like a very fun way to live your life.  Plus, exposure therapy is a great way to get over those things that do scare you. I never want to miss out on experiencing something cool just because it is scary!

My husband letting the Lorikeets drink.

                There are a few things I am afraid of, and have decided to partake in activities that will help me deal with those fears this summer.  In the past I have done things to help with my fear of birds (I love to look at them, but they seem to like to randomly attack me for no reason!) Hanging out in the bird house at the Portland Zoo really helped me deal with them, although I still wouldn’t want one as a pet.  I also visit butterfly houses every chance I get, because they kind of freak me out a little as well. 

 I don’t have the best body image, and have never had the confidence to wear a bikini, no matter what my weight.  I was out this weekend, and saw the cutest bikini in the window of a store, and decided I need to get over my fear and buy it.  I tried it on, and the bottoms have great coverage to hide some of my least-favorite body parts, and the top seemed pretty flattering so I decided to go for it.  Hopefully I will feel the same once I am actually walking onto the beach in it! In reality, I don’t sit at the beach looking at other people and judging what they are wearing, so I hope most people would not be judging me.

Me swinging on the trapeze!

One of my other fears is ladders.  I don’t even like going in my attic because climbing the ladder freaks me out.  I have already done some work on my fear of ladders by taking 2 trapeze classes, where you have to climb up a pretty tall ladder to get to the platform that you then have to swing off of. Even though you had to climb the ladder several times in each class, it still scared me by the end of the class almost as much as it did in the beginning, so clearly I need to work more on this fear.

  In a few weeks, my friends and I are doing a ropes course in the woods at Terrapin Adventures.  The highest point is 40 feed off of the ground.  I’m not sure if it is a ladder or stairs to get up there, but I am sure it will make me nervous.  But I know that I can do it, and that it will be worth it, and maybe the next time I need to climb a ladder I will be a little less freaked out! (And at the end we will be grabbing beers, so I can always just focus on that!)

What are you afraid of?  What can you do to work on that fear?