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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The only thing we have to fear is--OMG is that a spider!

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “So let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Roosevelt's Inaugural Speech about change, restructuring the economics system, and defeating The Great Depression is still inspirational. However, I am sure that during an apocalypse, that iconic line will not ring true. Fear will lie around every corner and under every bed. It will lurk in the night sky itself. To survive, you’ll need to identify the legitimate reasons for fear and weed out the illegitimate ones.


How can you identify an illegitimate fear?
Identify what frightens you now. Look at what creeps. What do you makes your skin crawl for no real reason?

I fear and loathe spiders. Just thinking of them makes my skin crawl and itch. Note: this post is completely free of pictures of spiders (even cartoon spiders).  Ever since I was a kid, I have been afraid of them climbing into my nose, ears and mouth while I sleep. During an apocalypse, unless I am under attack by a horde of spiders, my fear will be illegitimate. It will cripple me and make me easy prey.

Knowing what irrationally frightens me now means that I can work on overcoming it before it compromises me in a life or death situation.

How can I overcome an illegitimate fear?
Identifying a fear is much easier than overcoming it.

Before the apocalypse strikes, try building up a tolerance. Expose yourself to small doses of what scares you to desensitize yourself to the experience.

During an apocalypse, you’ll have to put it into perspective. Which is worse: getting into a pickup truck with a spider or being eaten by hungry space sharks? I’d take my chances with the spider.

If the pickup was being driven by a giant spider that was wearing a cowboy hat and chewing on a piece of hay, I might be screwed.

What is something you fear irrationally? How would you conquer it?

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