Fear

In my life, I've learned a lot about fear. I've learned how it controls me, though I have yet to learn how to completely control it. It seems as though each change brings about new fear. Some of these I believe to be healthy, while others prove to be quite unreasonable. For instance, I am afraid of small, closed-in spaces. I'm also afraid of fire. As a child, my biggest fear was the idea of being unable to escape a buring house or building that I might find myself trapped in. Elevators still prove to be a problem. While I know small spaces themselves cannot actually harm me, I still have an irrational fear of them. My point is, we all have fears we have either overcome or learned to live with to function on a daily basis.

 

 

There are four freedoms engraved on a wall at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington. They are: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear. In his inaugural speech, FDR said "...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." I like this quote because it demeans fear, labeling it as something which is unworthy of our time and thought. It also defines fear, implying it can literally debilitate us, causing us to cease moving forward in our efforts. How true!

I'm at yet another crossroads of life, and with it has come new fears. My job site is closing soon, and I can honestly say I don't really enjoy the job because it is not in my chosen career field. I have come to really enjoy some of the people I've gotten to know and hope to remain friends with them. I am thankful that I'm being given the opportunity to continue school while collecting income from a job I will no longer have to attend. Any nursing student will tell you, clinicals and class are a full time job - more than a full time job actually, because the homework doesn't stop even though you're "working" full time with clinicals. I'm looking forward to continuing this chapter of my life. I'm ready to expand on this career field I've already had the past pleasure of working in.

So why am I afraid?