Question of the Week: Question #16

Well, friends, I came up with this week's question myself after I looked into the mailbag and discovered it was empty! I'd love to hear from you, so feel free to email me (mellow1422 [at] aol)!

How do you deal with irrational fears?
Irrational fears.

Two words. Fifteen letters. The two words don’t even look like they belong together, do they? If a fear is irrational, there is no way it should hold so much power over us. We know it’s irrational. And what’s more, a fear is just that: A fear. A fear of something that might happen, but hasn’t yet.

Remember when I last wrote about irrational fears? You know, the kind that seem to linger longer than a pesky hang nail and leave you exhausted from a bit of over-obsessing.

When we were kids, we might have been afraid to go to sleep because of monsters. We looked for them under our bed, in our closet or sitting on the branches of a tree outside our window. We’d even seek reassurance from our parents – the rational ones – who would be positive that no such monsters were haunting us. We had proof in the empty closets and lonely tree branches, but sometimes the proof isn’t in the pudding – or in this case, a lack of monster sightings.
Sometimes those fears still linger. Even when we’re adults. That’s sort of how I’ve come to see these irrational fears that keep popping up in my head. These fears are like our childhood fear of monsters. Just because I can’t see the fear up-close-and-personal doesn’t make it any less real.

Our adult-equivalent of monsters could be anything: Job stress, health woes, relationship tension. These fears, whether rational or not, are very real. We picture them jumping out and scaring us.

Ever the curious person that I am (and looking for ways to rein in my fears), I did the only logical thing: I took my question to Facebook. Who better to give me advice than my friends? Some said to remember to keep on breathing (always a good idea, especially with everything in life). Some reminded me to think of happy thoughts. Others said to do something like exercising or enjoying a new hobby and always remembering to live in the present moment.

And someone even said, “I scream, then kill them because they are usually bugs with eight legs."

I’ll admit it. That one did make me laugh. Maybe we can rein these fears in together? How do you beat those monsters, friends? xoxo

[Photos via Audrey Hepburn Complex]