We’re very honored that Jim King has written a post for today! Jim offers articulate, intelligent feedback often here at Life,forinstance since our launch in November. We’re always happy to see Jim arrive at the party!

You can conquer almost any fear if you will make up your mind to do so.
For remember fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in your mind.
~Dale Carnegie

Everyone in life has fears or phobias.  How they face their fear is another matter.  As a child I had my fears as every child does. One that comes to mind was my fear of lightning. At night the sky would light up, followed immediately by a loud crack of thunder and I would hide under the bed sheets. Now I embrace a thunderstorm. I love to witness all of it, staying outside as long as I can, enjoying the beauty of every bolt of lightning.

As we get older, we have different fears; perhaps in relationships or work. In relationships, most manipulations occur because we hand over the weapon of our fear to be used against us to those we love the most. A lover is able to manipulate his beloved’s emotions by threatening withdrawal of love and care. He will sulk, not talk or withdraw caring gestures – all the things that a loved one values. So you give in, bow to the will of the lover and make compromises, all for the fear of losing that which is cherished.  At work, how often we let people get away with delivering shoddy work, doing an injustice to someone or cheating us just because we fear losing our peace of mind over an altercation.  We allow incompetent people to underperform for fear of creating a situation and so losing our calm.

One of my own greatest fears is public speaking.  In 2009 I was given the task of giving a five day weather forecast for competitors of the Tall Ships Atlantic Crossing [TSAC]. I spent a couple days gathering my resources and on the day of the brief I was at work at 6am assembling and practicing for a 2pm weather briefing. When all the sailors from around the world and TSAC Staff assembled, around one hundred in number, I found myself to be cool and confident. So with practice and hard work I overcame my fear.

At times one must face their fear head-on. This happened to me when I was cornered by an arctic wolf at Canadian Forces Station in Alert NU. Working by myself 3 kms north of the station, I was left to my own resources. I approached the wolf, yelled and stomped my feet. I was not even sure how he would react. He jumped back a few feet and I repeated this until I was able to make my way back to my office.  In time, I was able to work with him in close proximity. On my very last night before flying south, he was outside as usual.  I got his attention and he came up to me and we were nose to nose for over one minute.

And now I have conquered one more fear, committing my thoughts to paper or a blog. Thank you Lori, for your gentle persuasion.

What do you fear? How do you conquer it?

photo credit: Jim King