CHALLENGING IRRATIONAL FEAR

“Mom, I’m afraid of that dog,” said my client’s little boy. “He might get me.”

“We’ll be careful, Timmy,” his mom replied. “Walk with Joan and me.” We continued past the dog to my office.

“Good morning,” said the dog’s owner who was a friend of mine. He and his dog were playing catch with a small ball. Timmy watched cautiously.

“They’re having fun,” said Timmy as he relaxed his grip on his mom’s arm.

“Do you want to throw the ball?” asked my friend. Soon the boy joined in the fun, playing with the dog he had previously feared.

Some of our fears are legitimate. Others are irrational and rob us of the joy of living. Like my client’s son, sometimes we need to confront our fear to learn that it is illogical.

If we’re afraid of someone else’s reaction because we think we might make a mistake, sound foolish, or say something wrong, we may back off. This behavior often keeps us from enjoying others’ company. Yet when we challenge our fear, staying true to our own personality, beliefs, and thoughts, we usually find that we were safe all along.

Lord, please give me courage to face and confront my irrational fear.

Copyright 2011 Joan C. Webb

The devotional above just touches on what I would call "common every day irrational fears." I certainly can relate to those. You too probably?

I have lived this way most my life. Some of my "irrational fears" even go deeper than the common fear of "what might someone think of me if I make a mistake."

My mum is a very fearful woman. Based a lot of fear around death and dying. She instilled many irrational fears in my life while growing up.

I lived a very isolated and sheltered life after my parents divorce when I was 10. But even before their divorce, I began observing and taking on "fears" that I witnessed by my mum. So living such a life, I knew only of my mum's over-protection + worries + fears = irrational.

Growing up in the 1970's, in a pretty safe neighborhood irrational fears found their way into my life. My mum instilled in me that going out after dark was just too dangerous. Something bad would definitely happen to me. And if I was allowed to go out at night, to one of the rare teenage parties (without supervision) to a friend's house, I would have to call my mum when I arrived. Call almost every hour. Then call her when I left. I was so embarrassed. Nobody else had to call their mommy. But me! This also happened in day light as well. Especially when I began to work in my early 20's. Having to call her when I arrived at work, lunch and left.

Then there are the fears that I conjured up myself over the years. Because of being brought up in a fear based home. Too many to name though here. Some are really amusing.

Like the time when I was in my early 30's and a "so-called girlfriend" at the time was with me. We got the bright idea of flying kites one afternoon on the beach.

Here I was with my kite in the air. Then all of a sudden unbelievable fear swept over me as I looked up into the clear blue skies. At a distance I saw a jet streaming across the sky. Then my irrational mind started working. I thought my kite was too high. My string would become tangled in the turbo engines of the jet. Causing it to plummet 40,000 feet into the ocean. I would then be responsible for all those deaths. Sick huh? To me it WAS REAL!!!

So real I began reeling in my line in as fast as I could. My girlfriend looked at me perplexed. I was determined not to cause a major catastrophe in the world and our kite flying ended abruptly that day. That was a fear. That was extreme irrational fear.

Now I can look back and laugh. Where would I get 40,000 feet of string that long to fly a kite in the first place? Secondly, there have never ever been any reports of a down jet airliner due to a flying kite.

Sure I still suffer in this area. Not as bad though. Like with anything else, as God continues to heal my mind and emotions and helps me to break these generational curses, I can only improve.......