Facing Fear

"One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do." 

Henry Ford

I have a bit of a confession to make ... I have a few fear issues.  Some might say some of my fears border on irrational .  Like my fear and loathing of balloons -- I can't help thinking that the dang blasted things are going to pop at any moment and that just puts me on edge.  Okay maybe that one is a bit of a stretch, but spiders? C'mon those things are just downright freaky, right?

Some of my fears have no basis. Like my fear of losing my ring when I put a letter in the mailbox.  I have never lost my ring this way, nor do I know of anyone who has and yet every time I drop an envelope in one of those big blue metal monsters I double check to make sure my wedding ring is nice and secure. It could happen!

Some of my fears have some sense of being reasonable, but if you dig a little you see they are not.  Take my fear of lightening.  On the surface one could vouch that lightening could in fact be dangerous and a healthy fear or at least awareness of it is not all that bad.  My fear of it, however stems from the comment a friend's dad made over thirty years ago.  His hobby was weather, in fact he had his very own weather station at his house and regularly called in weather data to the local news.  I figured this guy knew his stuff, so when he made the comment upon seeing me in my headgear and braces that I better watch out because I was a lightening rod with all that metal, I was crippled with fear.  Mind you my brace and headgear wearing days are looooooong gone, but I still cringe whenever Mother Natures lights up the sky.  Hey, the man was a weatherman ... he knew what he was talking about!

Some of my fears are very reasonable... no really they are.  Things that have happened in the past and could very well happen again.  I get a little panicky around angry dogs since the Little Munchkin got bit.  Not a big fan of bike riding on loose gravel roads since I ended up skidding and flipping into an eight foot ditch.   Don't even get me started on buzzing bees!

Ok, clearly I have a few little funky issues, but hey, who doesn't?  I had to laugh today when my eighty-six year young mama made the comment that, "There ain't a single one of us on this big old globe that doesn't have a screw or two that could use a little tightening."  Can I get an amen?  

What about you?  What's your biggest fear?  Right now, I would have to say mine is the fear of sharing my writing with others.  I recently attended a blogging workshop and shared a little about me and this little blog with the other workshop participants.  It wasn't until afterwards that the panic started to set in.  What if they don't like me?  What if they think I'm no good?  What if?  What if? What if? This whole "being a writer" thing is still pretty new to me.  I enjoy it, but my inner critic can be a great big bully.  Thankfully,  I belong to the world's most awesome writing critique group.  These peeps are my biggest cheerleaders and because of their encouraging words (and the small little fact that a soon to be published book will have my writing in it... MY writing! Somebody pinch me!), I may just have to agree with Mr. Ford's quote --- I don't need to be afraid.  I can do this!