I have also recently been taking a "Stress Management" class and a "Health and Fitness" class. I have learned about tons of diseases and psychological disorders that can cripple the mind and body. The leading preventable killer is heart disease and AIDS is the number one killer worldwide. Yet there is another killer that has been silently killing for centuries without any credit given. There is a disease/psychological disorder/condition that is without a doubt, the most dangerous of all the killers combined. It can strike man, woman and child equally, old and young, strong and weak, healthy and unhealthy. It is deadly not in the fact that it can kill you on its own, but the way it affects you can most certainly lead to death of the body, mind and/or spirit. What is this horrific monstrosity you ask? What could possibly wield that kind of power? A power sometimes stronger than the power of God Himself?
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Fear.
There was a movie I saw a long time ago called "Defending Your Life" starring Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep. In the movie, Albert Brooks plays a character that dies and in the afterlife, goes on trial to decide whether he should go back to Earth and try again or go on to what I assumed was heaven. During his trial, he looks back on various times in his life and different choices he made and he is judged not by the mistakes he made or the bad things he did, but on how he let fear affect him.
(Watch it, it's a good movie. At least watch this clip.)
The most powerful killer in the world is Fear. Fear of the past, fear of the future, fear of the unknown, fear of the known, fear of snakes and spiders, fear of the dark, fear of change, fear of monotny, fear of rejection, fear of acceptance, the list goes on and on. Fear can keep you from going to the doctor to assess your health and if a condition goes undetected long enough, no amount of miracle medications or modern advancements in science can help. Fear can keep an otherwise talented person from pursuing his/her dreams because they are to afraid of failing, so they stay in the same shitty job with no opportunity for career advancement and live in constant unhappiness, not being able to find love and ultimately wasting their lives away. Fear can be obvious, like the fear of heights or fear can be subtle, like the fear of commitment. However it affects you, fear can be debilitating. Some ride fear like a stallion and rise to the challenge by conquering it and succeeding in light of it, while some crumble in its towering shadow and simply sulk away to cower in the corner like a child that's scared of the boogeyman and the lights just went out. I have learned a lot, maybe more in the past few weeks than in the first 21 years of my life, but a lot yet and still. Although I have learned a lot of important life lessons recently, one of the most important things I have learned about is fear. everybody is afraid of something. Everybody gets afraid of something at some point in their lives. There are several things that are used to measure success in this lifetime, one of them being how you handled fear. People who live in constant fear never take chances. People who succumb to fear never find themselves risking it all. Well by definition (and cliche'), you only win big when you risk big. Of course that doesn't include the lottery but you get my meaning. Fear can kill you. Too afraid to go to the dentist, lose your teeth. Too afraid to go to the doctor, lose your health. Too afraid to commit, lose your love. Too afraid to fail, you will never succeed.
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