Overcoming Fear -Is Fear Keeping You from Achieving Your Dreams?
By Janann Krauel, Apr. 23, 2009
 

Who, at some point in his or her life, hasn’t been deathly afraid of doing something? Who hasn’t felt the heart-stopping, paralyzing agony of tackling something that looms as an insurmountable barrier?

I’ve been afraid of heights my whole life. My earliest memory of this dates back to third grade. My school’s third through sixth grade classrooms were on the second floor of an 1890’s era building in the Midwest with a basement that rose several feet above ground level. For an eight-year-old, those two-and-a-half stories seemed as high as the Empire State Building. Fire drills were done on a regular basis. The fire drill route from this classroom was down the two-and-a-half floors on a wrought iron fire escape on the outside of the building.

I still remember the terror I felt at the anticipation of taking that first step out the window onto the fire escape. I tried as hard as I could to not look down through the iron bars, but the fear of falling down the stairs forced me to look. My legs shook the entire way down, and by the time I reached the bottom, I could barely stand. Even worse was the climb back up when the fire drill was over. I was too shy to admit to anyone how afraid I was, so I suffered in silence, dreading the next drill. How happy I was when I graduated to the seventh grade and a classroom on the first floor.

Fear is a funny thing. In its best form, it keeps you safe by making you alert to danger. In its worst, it keeps you from doing things, sometimes very important things. Fear can cloud your judgment; enabling you to talk yourself out of anything you have a fear of by employing any number of seemingly rational and logical reasons. It’s kept me from roller coasters, parasailing, and any other such activity that has any chance of lifting me far off the ground.

But I’ve become convinced that fear will only keep you from doing things you don’t want to do badly enough to overcome the fear. In other words, if you find a reason to avoid doing something because you’re afraid, you don’t want to do it badly enough to work through the fear and do it anyway.

This “ah ha moment” came to me as I stood on top of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacán, Mexico. I’m a big history buff, and have always been interested in the Aztec, Inca and Maya cultures. While reading an article about the pyramids several years before, I told myself that if I ever went there, I would climb one of those dad-gum pyramids, no matter how high it was. My opportunity came a few years later when a friend organized a group tour to Mexico, and Teotihuacán was on the itinerary.

Finally there, I surveyed Teotihuacán, wondering which of the two large pyramids I would climb. I determined that if I were going to go through the combination of agony and exhilaration of climbing one, it would be the tallest – the Pyramid of the Sun – the third largest pyramid in the world at over 200 feet.

As I began the ascent, I thought back to that fire escape, my shaky legs and the internal torment I was sure to go through. Would I really be able to do it?

The Pyramid of the Sun is built in levels. At each level on the way up I could stop to catch my breath, renew my energy and stamina, and have time to encourage myself to go on. Each step up made my already-shaky legs even weaker. I found if I only looked up, I could make it from level to level with the least amount of agony.

When I finally stepped onto the top ledge, I felt a rare sense of accomplishment. I walked around the pyramid, taking in the view, recording the moment with my camera. I had really done it – climbed one of the tallest pyramids in the world and lived to tell about it. Even though I’d felt the fear in every step, I had wanted to do it badly enough that I continued anyway, no matter what.

Recalling my childhood fears and struggles, I wrote a children’s book about a baby robin that never learns to fly because of his fear of heights. In Flying Lessons, Robbie struggles to overcome the fear that keeps him from being the bird he was meant to be.

How many of us do this every day – let our fears keep us from being who we’re meant to be, or from achieving our dreams?

Tackling something so full of emotion is difficult to do all at once. Scaling a pyramid seems a daunting task when it’s viewed from the ground. Climbing it was easier when done level by level, one step at a time, with time to rest and reflect.

I learned to always look up. Never look down. The future is ahead, and looking back only makes you want to retreat to the comfort zone that kept you imprisoned for so long. It’s all right to be afraid. It makes the accomplishment that much sweeter. And if you slip, regain your footing and keep going.

As Robbie the robin learned, sometimes you have to take a few nosedives on the way to soaring. It’s a lesson for adults and children alike.

What’s your dream? Does your fear keep you from achieving it, or do you want it so badly you can charge ahead anyway in spite of it, step by step?
 

Author's Bio

Jan Krauel is the author of Flying Lessons (flyinglessonsbook.com). With many more stories and articles in progress, she is also an intuitive writer, playwright, web designer and jewelry designer.

© Copyright by SelfGrowth.com, Self Improvement Online, Inc.

  From Ron Miller ('59) of NC - 05/07/09 - "Conficker Virus":

   YIKESARONI! Thanks so much, Ronnie!

      From My Niece, Shari, of VA -  05/07/09 - "The Golden Key":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KohD6EtWdfo

   Thank you, Shari, this is very thought provoking! Well, actually, I think of many of these same things every day of my life, but then, everyone knows I'm weird.....

DATES TO REMEMBER:

1. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 15, 16, and 17, 2009 - The Hampton High School Class of 1964 will hold its 45-Year Reunion at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. For details, see: www.hamptonhigh1964.com - HAMPTON HIGH SCHOOL - CLASS OF 1964

2. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 4, 5 and 6 (Labor Day Weekend), 2009 - The Class of 1969 will hold its 40-Year Reunion at the Point Plaza Hotel, Newport News, VA. For details, see: http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/reunion2009-69.html and contact Jean Baker Howell at hokie13mom@cox.net - OPEN TO ALL NNHS ALUMNI

3. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 18, 19, and 20, 2009 - The Warwick High School Class of 1959 will hold its 50-Year Reunion at the Marriott Newport News at City Center, Newport News, VA. For details, contact WHSREUNION1959@aol.com.

4. Friday and Saturday, October 9 and 10, 2009 - The Class of 1964 will hold its 45-Year Reunion at the Newport News Marriott at City Center, 740 Town Center Drive, Newport News, VA 23606: For details, see: http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/reunion2009-64.html - CLASS OF 1964

Carol Buckley Harty 746 Hillsboro Avenue Edwardsville, IL 62025-1821   618-530-9092

To donate, click on the gold seal on the left,               or just mail it to my home. Thanks!

Garden Party

- Words and Music by Rick Nelson, 1972, inspired by his experience at a Madison Square Garden concert


I went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends
A chance to share old memories and play our songs again
When I got to the garden party, they all knew my name
No one recognized me, I didn't look the same

CHORUS
But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

People came from miles around, everyone was there
Yoko brought her walrus, there was magic in the air
'n' over in the corner, much to my surprise
Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes wearing his disguise

CHORUS

lott-in-dah-dah-dah, lot-in-dah-dah-dah

Played them all the old songs, thought that's why they came
No one heard the music, we didn't look the same
I said hello to "Mary Lou", she belongs to me
When I sang a song about a honky-tonk, it was time to leave

CHORUS

lot-dah-dah-dah (lot-dah-dah-dah)
lot-in-dah-dah-dah

Someone opened up a closet door and out stepped Johnny B. Goode
Playing guitar like a-ringin' a bell and lookin' like he should
If you gotta play at garden parties, I wish you a lotta luck
But if memories were all I sang, I rather drive a truck

CHORUS

lot-dah-dah-dah (lot-dah-dah-dah)
lot-in-dah-dah-dah

'n' it's all right now, learned my lesson well
You see, ya can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself

"Garden Party" midi courtesy of http://hits.mididb.com/19580222/Nelson_Ricky/ - 05/08/09

"Garden Party" lyrics (transcribed by Robin Hood) courtesy of http://www.lyricsdepot.com/ricky-nelson/garden-party.html - 05/08/09

First Image of Ricky Nelson courtesy of http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Rick-Nelson-Posters_i342619_.htm - 05/08/09

Second Image of Ricky Nelson courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/49024304@N00/48123729/ - 05/08/09

Animated Musical Divider Line clip art courtesy of http://www.wtv-zone.com/nevr2l82/bars16.html - 05/08/09

Animated Tiny Birthday Cake clip art courtesy of Sarah Puckett Kressaty ('65) of VA - 08/31/05
Thanks, Sarah Sugah!

Bethel High School's Bruin clip art courtesy of Eric Huffstutler (Bethel HS - '75) of VA - 03/22/06 (replaced 02/23/09)
Thanks, Eric!

Army Seal clip art courtesy of Al Farber ('64) of GA - 05/24/06 (still missing...)
Thanks, Al!
Replaced by Norm Covert ('61) of MD - 02/09/09
Thanks, Norm!