Fear…do not let it bring your life to a grinding halt!

Realise your Dream 

The Realise Your Dream blogs are written by Peter Kelly and Mark Teale. More information about the authors can be found here 

Happy New Year and welcome back to Realise Your Dream 2015! We can’t wait to share many more tips, insights and stories with you all!

I recently had a chat with a colleague of mine who was planning on travelling to Paris later this year. Due to recent tragic events, her excitement had turned to fear and a reluctance to travel overseas – especially to France. Of course, this is understandable in light of the recent acts of terrorism in Paris.

I am not trying to make light of the events, they are a part of a series of very chilling incidences which have occurred throughout the world in the last three months, from our own backyard in Sydney, through to the classrooms of Pakistan, the small villages of Nigeria and the continuing madness in the Middle East. Fear and anger are the first natural responses for most people when faced with these completely irrational actions.

But for most of us, myself included, this is not the only fear that dictates how we live our lives.

For example:

• Atychiphobia – Fear of failure;
• Catagelophobia – Fear of being ridiculed;
• Decidophobia – Fear of making decisions;
• Euphorbia- Fear of hearing good news;
• Gelotophobia – Fear of being laughed at;
• Hypegiaphobia – Fear of responsibility;
• Lalo phobia – Fear of speaking;
• Metathesiophobia – Fear of change; and
• Monophobia – Fear of solitude or being alone.

This is just a few of a very long list; no wonder we do end up with high blood pressure and hypertension as we are in a continual state of worry.

One that stood out to me was: Gerascophobia – A fear of growing old.

We fear this because we are constantly told that:

• You can’t do that you are too old;
• You are too old for this position;
• Don’t move too far from your doctor;
• You will get lost;
• You are mutton dressed up as lamb; and
• Be careful you are old you might hurt yourself.

I have a message to those who believe this “nonsense”. With age comes experience and knowledge of what your limitations are –this is not a reason to fear old age, but rather a reason to embrace it, grab it by the throat and give it a very good shake. Remember what we have always said: don’t live your last years with regrets.

Fear is not a bad emotion and of course, in some extreme circumstances, it can save your life, but it is not an emotion that should rule your life and do not let it bring your life to a grinding halt.

There’s a whole wide world out there and everyone deserves to experience it!