Dealing with Fear

This pandemic is the worst event to happen to us since the 2nd World War. How are you coping with this? How is your level of fear?
 
I came across these two articles in Word for Today and it gave me an insight into the power of fear and how we can purposefully create a life of fear which leads to stress and unhappiness.
 
 
Franklin Roosevelt
 
“During the Great Depression unemployment hit 25 per cent of the American population. Savings accounts were wiped out by bank failures, farmers lost their land to repossessions, and people were having trouble just feeding their families.
 
During this dark time Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the nation in these words: ‘Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyses needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.’
 
What most people didn’t realise is that the president himself had experienced some dark hours during which fear paralysed him. Roosevelt was born a child of privilege and educated in Europe, at Harvard, and at Columbia Law School.
 
But at age thirty-nine, he was stricken with a case of polio that left him severely disabled. During his recovery he developed an extreme fear of fire. He worried he wouldn’t be able to escape because of his disability.
 
But in time he overcame his fear, regained the use of his hands, and even learned to walk again with the aid of braces.
 
He re-entered the political arena – fearlessly campaigning to become the governor of New York, which he did in 1929. He then went on to become one of America’s greatest presidents and guided the nation to victory in World War II.
 
In his memoirs Roosevelt recalls how when he turned to God for help, courage, and guidance, he received them.”
 
 
What a remarkable man
 
What an amazing man and what bravery in the face of such adversity. As you have often heard me say “It’s not what happens to you in life which counts, it’s how you respond which makes all the difference.”
 
Franklin Roosevelt could have given up when he was struck down with polio, but he didn’t. He saw it as a challenge and a challenge he could overcome. He used immense powers of positivity and Mental Resilience to rise to the top of politics.
 
This next article resonated with me and made me think about the way I used to be and the way I am now. My outlook on life used to be far more negative, and life wasn’t good. I then changed the way I think and speak, and my life turned around dramatically.
 
 
Is most of it in our minds?
 
“Fear can be devastating. Why? Because it breeds more fear! And the most insidious thing about fear is its ability to exaggerate.
 
C. Everett Koop, former surgeon general of the United States, observed, ‘People just have an inappropriate sense of what is dangerous.’ Do you fear flying? The fact is, you’re more likely to die from choking on a piece of food than in a commercial airline crash.
 
Are you afraid of dying in a robbery? You’re twice as likely to be killed playing a sport than you are to be stabbed to death by a stranger.
 
Are you afraid of sharks? Every year farmyard pigs slay more people than sharks do.
 
Are you worried about having surgery? You’re sixteen times more likely to die in a car crash than you are from surgical complications.
 
Seldom do the things we fear come to pass.
 
In our minds we conceive coming disasters that will likely never happen. And when they don’t occur, we think, ‘That was a close one!’ The truth is – our thoughts were the only things creating potential danger for us.”
 
 
We create most of our fears.
 
Research reveals over 90% of the things we worry about never happen. Studies show that people who worry a lot are generally less effective than those who don’t; they get less work done and are often less happy. … Everyone worries, but most worry is about some negative possibility in the future, not right now.
 
 
Thoughts for the week. 

1. How are your levels of fear?
2. Are you fearful about Covid and the future?
3. You can choose how you respond to most negative situations.
4. You can choose to see things as a problem or as a challenge to overcome.
5. This week make it a mission to be more positive about things you are fearing.

 
That’s it for this week have a wonderful weekend and choose to be positive.
 
Warm regards

John
 
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