Living a Richer Life

I’m having writers block this morning. Since I began writing this blog, I have stopped my daily personal journal where I process on paper the daily events in my life. But with all that has happened in the past month, I returned to my journal to express thoughts not appropriate for public consumption. After 30 minutes of journaling, I have a better perspective on the day but find myself devoid of ideas for this blog.

So I went in search of ideas and stumbled upon National Face Your Fears Day. Technically, I missed the official day, that was this past Tuesday, October 9^th. But the concept behind the day was so intriguing:

“Take a moment to consider what your life might be like if you conquered some of your greatest fears. What would you do differently? Face Your Fears Day gives you the chance to stand up to your fears, overcome them, and to seize the day.”  http://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/face-your-fears-day/

Taking this premise, I looked at various lists and came up with the following fears and phobias:

The Dentist

Dogs

Flying

Thunder and Lightning

The Dark

Heights

Other People

Scary places

Creepy Crawlies

Snakes

http://www.livescience.com/13434-phobias-fears-acrophobia-heights-agoraphobia-arachnophobia.html

Another list:

Spiders

Heights

Open Spaces

People

Flying

Dogs

Night

Thunder and Lightning

Closed Spaces

Death

http://realityplex.com/top-10-most-common-fears-and-phobias/

What I found was that half of the top ten fears originate in nature. Why are humans so afraid of animals and the natural world? To me, it is the lack of control. It is not in my power to stop night from coming or to prevent thunderstorms. Death is inevitable no matter how advanced medical technology has progressed. As for those phobias I confess to, such as snakes and heights, I go out of my way to physically avoid situations where I may encounter either or both.

But the point of Face Your Fears Day is the question of whether my life would be richer if I faced these fears head-on. If I overcame my fear of heights, I could scale mountains and have the opportunity to see the world from a different perspective. I could experience firsthand, the lives of eagles and condors, the wolverine and the mountain goat instead of watching them on television or reading about them in books.

Fear of snakes and blood, not on the top ten lists above but on my personal top ten, prevented me from going to veterinary school. My life would have unfolded so differently had I faced these fears and followed my heart.

Living life in hindsight is easy; living in the moment is not. I’m at a point in my life that to begin veterinary school would be financial foolishness. But I can return to wildlife rehabilitation, a healing profession that gave me so much satisfaction and pride.  I can learn techniques to overcome my fear of heights with the goal of climbing a tall tree or a mountain. That is well within my reach and only requires me to take that first step.