Fear 1: Fear Is All Around

Week One - 1st February 2009


It may seem strange to start a self-development blog by discussing fear. However, looking back at my life so far, I believe various forms of fear have prevented me achieving much of what I wanted.

These include (a few that I can think of now); a fear of going to hospital, a fear of speaking in public, a fear of ringing tradespeople, a fear of undertaking a long journey, a fear of speaking to strangers, a fear of telephoning friends, a fear of progressing relationships, a fear of starting a difficult project, a fear of talking to people I perceive as superior to me in some way, a fear of going to work, and, yes, a fear of writing this blog.

Interestingly, I have noticed the more I give into fear, the more fears I develop; indeed, I can imagine feeding fears enough could lead to full blown phobias.

To prevent fear obstructing the purpose of this blog, I want to tackle it straight away.

Whilst researching this subject, I have become more and more amazed how much fear there is in the world.

Have you ever been told (as I have) that fear 'is only in the mind'?

That may be so, but its effects are very real and widespread.

Governments rule by fear, companies market through fear (insurance companies in particular: 'what would happen if.....?') and I am increasingly convinced that many of the negative and destructive deeds committed in this world are created by fear. The media have a lot to answer for in this respect. Now I enjoy nights as much as days and yet so often I have come across adults who are afraid of the dark. Why? Well, look at the passion for horror movies and the hunger of newspapers for lovely stories of dreadful crimes for much of the cause.

An example of such orchestrated, blind fear was presented to me a couple of years ago. In 2000/2001 a national newspaper whipped up a frenzy over the identities of suspected paedophiles. Now, I as much as anybody have no sympathy for these dreadful criminals but see what happened. Residents of the Paulsgrove estate in Portsmouth, Hampshire caused riots and virtual lynch mobs against local suspects. Some time later, however, one of the local residents told me that one of the mobs' targets turned out not to be a paedophile but a paediatrician at the local hospital. I understand this mistake was also made elsewhere.

Fear must also prevent the majority of people from achieving their potential in life. Fear creates procrastination, makes projects seem unachievable and so leads to the abandonment of dreams. It causes a loss of confidence. Fear is also largely responsible for economic recessions.




"Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

Franklin D. Roosevelt in his inaugural address, 4 March 1933



"Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive, the risk to be alive and express what we really are."

Don Miguel Ruiz



Next week I will dive in and attempt to identify the types of fears and apply the classification to my life. Later in the month I will move on to overcoming fears.

In the meantime, can you think of any fears that might hold you back from what you want in life?


Until next week, you have my greatest wishes,


Keith Braithwaite



http://www.keithbraithwaite.com/