Dealing with Fear
An article written for the Christian community with biblical and
other examples with links below for detailed reading.
What is fear?
Fear is a premonition of potential
injury, discomfort, inconvenience or even death that
if left unattended or unaddressed leads to
a sense of helplessness needing friendly or professional support
and empathy to ameliorate.
There are three kinds of fear and three kinds of
people.
Let's talk first about three kinds of fear:
· Real: When a form
of injury is clear and imminent and evasive action is needed e.g., when you spy
a mountain lion perched on a rock above you when trekking in the
wild, you do your best to escape but if forced you fight (link of report
below)
· Perceived: Same example as above but this time you enter the wild with adequate
preparation to deal with eventualities and not be left to just the
astuteness of your mind and physical strength
· Imagined: When it is
congenital - a persisting fear of things (cockroaches, lizards,
drowning) and adverse events (falling ill or misfortune)
So how do you handle fear when it is a figment of the
imagination?
· Explore what
triggers it? What is the source and substance of this fear? Why is there a
sense of helplessness and vulnerability as a result of the fear?
· Who is/are the
imagined perpetrators in this case?
· What is the
credible defense(s) against the perpetrator?
The very exploration of these questions will provide some relief
but may not completely douse the fear completely.
Repeat the exercise but go deeper in prayer - ideally with a
spiritual counselor or a psychologist and seek a healing for this congenital
fear.
Go back to its inception, replay the circumstances when it first
manifested, reverse the events in your mind with a victory over the
circumstances or acceptance that it happened and is in the past, deal with it
whichever way and purge it. Not easy to do but life-enhancing when done.
We can of course develop a counter by avoiding all aggravating
situation at all times and lessen the incidence of the emotional trauma arising
from the fear.
The three kinds of people are:
· Dare-devils: Ones who
don't fear a thing (seemingly) and repeatedly perform death defying acts;
Felix Baumgartner who jumped 24-mile up from space in 2014 experienced
panic attacks at the thought of getting into the space suit till
his psychologist talked him out of the gnawing fear (see link below)
· Empowered:
Inherently confident and rarely deterred from taking on life's challenges
- people in power, law enforcement, criminals or ordinary people who can 'give
as good a punch as get';
· Vulnerable: Who feel
fearful about everything however good their situation because of an unsettling
childhood or teens with no 'big brother' to hide behind; those who
get over the phase become the empowered
The dare-devils are an outlier, a minority who take risks as a
sporting activity to test their limits, or for fame.
The empowered are the more real and interesting
lot who rise above the ordinary.
David, the shepherd boy, and later King of Judah and Israel,
would use his staff to club lions and bears into submission, and if they still
resisted, tear open their jaw to redeem his precious lamb from their mouth.
Where did David who was just a boy get such undaunting courage?
He was seized with the occasion and had confidence in the
outcome.
In our case too, be seized not by
fear, but by the occasion and fight
it and that itself will dissipate the fear and
neutralize it.
But, as mentioned above in the case of perceived fear
meticulous preparation will save the day. No use being forewarned, if you are
not going to be forearmed.
Back to David whose encounters with lions and bears prepared him well to take on
Goliath and any other who thought to challenge him or his God.
Being empowered also comes from deep preparation.
In taking five stones instead of one with
him, David did not assume anything, but considered all exigencies, including the size of the opening in
Goliath's bronze
helmet, and who else he would need to
battle, all of which held him in good stead. The zeal for God and his
anointing obtained victories for David every time he acted after consulting
God. When taking big decisions this a good practice though hearing God's voice
is altogether of a different dimension.
For David as for those taking on the challenges of life
the alternative to complete victory could be
adverse. In David's case it would mean being mauled grievously
or to death whether battling the lion, bear or Goliath. The
purpose and the process mattered to David; the outcome would be
whatever it was meant to be. Psalm 23 captures David's complete
dependence on God beautifully (link below).
In contrast, the same fearless David fled from his son Absalom,
not because he feared Absalom, but David feared that Absalom may die by his
hand which was an unbearable thought for David even though his son was out for
his blood.
Remember Saul.
David had him at striking distance in the cave with Saul's back
to him. But he merely cut a part of Saul's garment and at another
time took hold of his spear lying beside a sleeping Saul to make his point that
he did not mean any ill to Saul, more importantly, that he would not lay his
hand on God's anointed king. So, how much more unthinkable it was for David
that his son Absalom should die at his hand or he at Absalom’s.
No wonder it is said that David was a man after God's heart. God
let his beloved son Jesus suffer and die that his people who rejected both Him
and His son may live.
Let's now talk about the Vulnerable.
The Vulnerable to get over their fear must
attempt to imitate the characteristics of the empowered.
Deal with fear by accepting the outcome whatever it may be and
you will fear no more whether real, perceived or a figment of your imagination.
Place your trust in God who is omnipotent, omniscient
and omnipresent (not in people in high places unless so discerned).
Our God is the best and ultimate remedy against all fear - for in Him is all
wisdom to save you and me from all adverse circumstances.
Like God did with the three Hebrew men Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego from the Book of Daniel, Chapter 3,
who were thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, when they refused to bow down to the king's image; the three are
preserved from harm and the king sees four men walking in the flames, "the
fourth ... like a son of God".[2]
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego trusted God to save them, but
even if he didn't the three believed bowing down to an image other than their
God is repugnant and death is a better option.
When you truly believe (practicing this assertion of faith
over many fearful occasions) God will come through for you whatever
the outcome which we must not decide but leave to the will of God.
For God knows best and in his wisdom we should rest.
“We always say: if you encounter a mountain lion, be very big,
make noise, stare at it, back away and don’t run,” she says. “And if you are
attacked: fight back.”
Although he had no trouble jumping off buildings and bridges, and
soaring across the English Channel in a carbon-fiber wing, he found himself
suffering panic attacks when forced to spend hours inside the pressurized suit
and helmet. At one point in 2010, rather than take an endurance test in it, he
went to an airport and fled the United States. With the help of a sports
psychologist and other specialists, he learned techniques for dealing with the
claustrophobia.
One of the techniques Mr. Baumgartner developed was to stay busy
throughout the ascent. He conversed steadily with Mr. Kittinger, a former
fighter pilot whose deep voice exuded the right stuff as he confidently went
through a 40-item checklist rehearsing every move that Mr. Baumgartner would
make when it came time to leave the capsule.
When the actual moment came, Mr. Kittinger said to him, “All
right, step up on the exterior step. Start the cameras. And our guardian angel
will take care of you now.”
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