Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself: Written September 4, 2011

Franklin D. Roosevelt gave us this little nugget of wisdom: "Only thing we have to fear is fear itself." I find myself thinking on this as I sit in a hotel in NW Austin while a dozen brush fires burn around Central Texas. My stomach feels tense, my heart is racing, my breath is shallow, and I'm anxious as Hell. And I'm nowhere near the fires.

This anxiety doesn't originate from the actual fear of impending danger, which is evolutionarily the reason we feel fear. Rabbit fears predator and runs away as fast as its little legs will carry it. Result: survival. This anxiety comes from empathy for those in harm's way, helplessness on my part, concern for my friends in the area, hopelessness at the prospect that a limited number of firefighters can control so many fires being spread by powerful winds . . . and yes, fear of eventual personal danger. What if the fires come HERE? These kinds of thoughts spiral out of control fueling one another, just as the fire is fueled by the brush in its path. To make matters worse, I watch news coverage and read online updates showing the extent of the damage and alerting us to new dangers. That would be the wind in this metaphor, I guess, spreading the fear in broad swaths across my mind and body. 

Here's the thing. I can get worked up about anything this way. So can you. Let's take this theory for a spin. Try water for example. One word . . . water. You know gas is getting into our water. People in DFW can light a match by their water faucet and catch the water on fire. That's going in your BODY. There are lots of other contaminants in the water too. And there's not enough water. The drought is killing trees and farms. In other places there's too much water, and people are losing their lives and houses. And by the way, many countries in the world don't have drinkable water. Don't drink the water in Mexico. You could die. It's all very terrible and overwhelming. Best just to buy water bottled from streams. Except that my friend Laura said she drank from a fresh water stream and then walked upstream and found a dead animal in the stream. So who knows really? 

See what I mean?

You can try it with words like "car" (tickets, repairs, wrecks, carjackings, getting trapped under water, being stranded); "man" (rapist, kidnapper, abuser, burglar, murderer, pedophile, pervert); "nature" (hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires (!), floods, droughts, heat, bugs, snakes, wolves); and on and on . . . I can even do it with "walk." My grandfather died after falling and hitting his head. I could decide, therefore, not to ever walk again. It can kill you after all. 

EVERYTHING can be scary if you let the negative thoughts take hold. 

Now for another precious nugget: Ignorance is bliss. Maybe not knowing about scary things is the answer. Some people go that route and spend their lives feeling quite content. For me, though, knowledge is power. So that one doesn't fit. I believe in being informed and trying to make a difference where you can.

So I go with stopping the thoughts. The only way to keep the fear from controlling you is to control the fear. Breathe. Meditate. Pray. Think good thoughts. Take reasonable precautions against REAL threats. And then do something else - something productive or fun or helpful. Do something. Put the fire out in your head before it consumes you.