Fear is a terrible thing. It can keep one trapped in an invisible cage and interfere with living a fulfilling life. We often fear things that don't ever happen. What a waste of time that is. I know, because I've done that many times. My number one fear is abandonment; a fear of being incapacitated or dying and nobody is there to help. I'm sure the root goes way back to my childhood but I have never been able to completely do away with it.
In thinking about fear two friends came to mind who are so fearless that they inspire me to just get over it and do it; whatever it is. One is male and one female and I wish I had their courage.
Paul has walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain and participated in many retreats, some of them silent. He seems to be able to listen to his inner voice and know exactly what he is supposed to do. He is about to move from Hawaii, where he has lived for seven years, to California because he believes the time is right to do so. Whatever he does I know he will be just fine and will continue to be an inspiration to others aloing the way.
Lois is a spunky lady who traveled around the country in a small trailer pulled by her car. She has often referred to herself as homeless. The courage it took to move around from friend to friend with no attachment has really inspired me. Lately she has been given some health challenges, but even so she still gets around and doesn't let it keep her down for long. Her motto is "upward and onward". Her dream is to walk the Camino and if I were a betting person I would say- she's going to do it when the time is right.
So with this inspiration I'm wondering what in the world is wrong with me. Because of the fear I talk myself into there are days I have a problem leaving my house. This is unacceptable and has to stop. I went through 15 years of taking medication in my past and I absolutely will not take that route again ever!
Yesterday I found a web site that listed 100 quotes about fear and I copied a few that I really liked to share with my readers.
Begin at once to live and count each day as a separate life.~Seneca
Ones fears of rejection is ones fear of love.~Alexandria Honey
Your fear is 100% dependent on you for survival.~Steve Maraboli
When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.~Anthony Robbens
Fear doesn't need doors and windows, it works from the inside.~Andrew Clements
Courage is fear that has said its prayers.~Dorothy Barnard
There is nothing to fear but fear itself.~FDR
So fear not, it's a waste of your time!
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Barbara, what a surprise to find myself in your blog today! I just want you to know that I also have struggled with the incapacitating fear that keeps me in my house, doors shut, curtains drawn, blankets figuratively pulled over my head. There have been days when I knew that I had to just walk outside the door or I was going to die like that, so I convinced myself to walk down the driveway and back - it was a miniature therapy of sorts, I guess. In the past, I started rock climbing because I was afraid of heights, and I’ve taken my trailer to back country areas that I’ve never been to before where I was sure I’d never be able to get out. I’ve done a lot of things just because they scared the crap out of me and I knew I had to do them or I’d never be able to live with myself.
ReplyDeleteIt's been many years since I've had to do the driveway thing to make sure I get out and I’m grateful the prison I now find myself in is only in my head - but the stories that twirl around in my brain can be as much of a lock-down as any I gave myself when I couldn’t get out of the house. I let the “realities” of what’s going on with my physical body dictate what I do every day and sometimes I don’t know what’s a real story and what’s just something I made up to keep me from moving forward. I get stuck in the fake story. I’m not very good at walking through one day at a time :D
I love the quote from Seneca: Begin at once to live and count each day as a separate life.
I'm going to try that out.
Thanks for sharing another part of your private life Lois. That quote from Seneca was my very favorite too. Or as Eckhart Tolle would say
Delete"live in the present".