Fear itself

So I just watched an incredible TED talk about fears and storytelling. The main idea is to think of your fears as stories - vivid, imaginative descriptions that keep us awake at night. There are lots of fears, big and small, but the most important thing I took away that I want to talk about is preparing for these fears to come true. There's an emotional component of fear that makes it one of the strongest motivators for humans. I've always maintained that fear and hope are respectively the most salient negative and positive emotional motivators. To prepare for fears to come true strips away some of the emotional gravity of fears, and twists it in a more cool-headed, scientific fashion.

The key is that these fears need to be specific and vivid in description. It can't be something as simple as a fear of spiders or a fear of not doing well in school. The fear doesn't come about because of spiders; it comes about from the potential of the spider, from the stories we construe in our imaginations. We dream up all of the resulting events from failing in school, and that is the fear. So prepare for these fears to become true. An easy one is a fear of death. That one's totally coming true, and what's great about that is that we have our entire lives to prepare for death. The beautiful contrast in this is that we prepare for the fear of death by living, and making it one great life. Have a plan in place in case your fears come true - in the meantime, live in opposition to the fear. If you have a fear of losing someone close to you, then understand what that will feel like. Envision your life without that person, and how it will be different. By making the fear real as a story, we trick our minds into being just a little less afraid of it, and a little more ready for it when the time comes for it to become true.

So take some time to think specifically about your fears and what they mean. Imagine the story that unfolds as a result of your fear - make it real in your mind and in your life, and live in opposition to it. Don't necessarily avoid the fear, because that won't help. Acknowledge it, and let it go. Life will be easier.