But what if...?

Fear says, “But what if it happens?”

One of the hard things when we are going through something is that we know we are going through it. Part of what we are dealing with is truth, it is reality, it is what it is. But the other part are those things that will never happen and those are the things we focus on. We focus on “what ifs?” But we can only deal with things one step at a time, one moment at a time. Right now in this moment you are facing and dealing with _______ (you fill in the blank). You can only do what you can right now about it…you can be proactive where you are right now by not worrying about it. What if your reality isn’t fun? What if it’s downright unfair?

We have two feet. The only way to travel on our feet is to put one foot in front of the other. By such an action, we can walk inches, miles. We can go places. But if we look at the huge distance up ahead, we will feel overwhelmed. We can place our eyes on a goal, a crack on the road, a sign, etc. and we can say, “I will walk to that sign.” And then we walk. We get to that spot and we find another goal. And we walk to that. And so on. That’s how we get places. That’s how marathon runners do it. They make small goals. Little things turn into big things over time. And then it doesn’t feel so hard because we are doing it little by little, goal by goal.

I’m reading a book right now called Rowing to Latitude by Jill Fredston. It’s a book about journeys along the Arctic’s edge, by kayak and rowboat. Jill writes: “A friend once commented that she wished she could do the kind of trips we do but was inhibited by fear. “How do you deal with it?” she asked, as if it were a two-headed, fire-breathing monster with wickedly sharp incisors. She brought to mind Mark Twain’s words: “I have had a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” Most of the time it isn’t real fear that seems to cripple people; it is the worry about all the bad things that could happen.”

Fear is: (F)alse (E)vidence (A)ppearing (R)eal

I dealt with some pretty intense fear a few years ago and the hardest thing to break through were all of the "what ifs". I look back and I can't believe that I let what could happen drive me to a paralyzing fear with knots in my stomach. I was so focused on what could happen. And you know, IT never happened. And IT wasn't even a big deal. But when I was facing the fear, I felt powerless. It was hard!

I don't know exactly why I'm talking about this right now, but I feel led to share it. I'll post this and then maybe I'll find something more light-hearted to post. Ha!