The Many Flavors Of Fear
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Bethlehem, PA.
Posts: 1,781
The Many Flavors Of Fear
I saw this line posted in a different thread, "Everything you want in this world lives on the other side of fear" (BullDog777, was the poster). It sounded kind of deep so I saved it. Fear is a basic survival mechanism when there is a real threat, anxiety is sort of fear when there is no real danger. There are many flavors of fear beyond that and it can impact almost every area of our life.
I have to wonder how many people put off dealing with their alcoholism because of fear. Life without your favorite crutch, that's like entering the twilight zone for some, I know it was for me. Then there's fear of treatment, (those evil treatment ideas) that want to mess with my beast, I must protect it at all costs! I always thought I was fearless, in retrospect that was the biggest con I ever ran on myself.
Below are the love and fear based emotions. They are the flip side of the same coin.
Love Fear
Calm Anxiety
Humility Arrogance
Willingness Unwillingness
Appreciation Criticism
Kindness Cruelty
Unity Separateness
Confidence Doubt
Empathy Judgment
Strength Weakness
Respect Disdain
Compassion Self Pity
Patience Impatience
Understanding Objecting
Acceptance Rejection
Hope Despair
Joy Misery
Caring Uncaring, Apathy
All of the fear based stuff causes entropy and keeps us trapped in a tight little box. The emotions on the fear side are mostly dead ends and can stop us from moving forward in life. From my experience booze seemed to be rocket fuel for the fear side of the aisle.
Those that move forward in life aren't always 10x smarter, they just push through the fear. They see the fear but do the thing anyhow. How often do you see people stay in lousy jobs or relationships or whatever because of fear of leaving the comfort zone? Has fear affected you in any way or were you always 100% truely "fearless".
I have to wonder how many people put off dealing with their alcoholism because of fear. Life without your favorite crutch, that's like entering the twilight zone for some, I know it was for me. Then there's fear of treatment, (those evil treatment ideas) that want to mess with my beast, I must protect it at all costs! I always thought I was fearless, in retrospect that was the biggest con I ever ran on myself.
Below are the love and fear based emotions. They are the flip side of the same coin.
Love Fear
Calm Anxiety
Humility Arrogance
Willingness Unwillingness
Appreciation Criticism
Kindness Cruelty
Unity Separateness
Confidence Doubt
Empathy Judgment
Strength Weakness
Respect Disdain
Compassion Self Pity
Patience Impatience
Understanding Objecting
Acceptance Rejection
Hope Despair
Joy Misery
Caring Uncaring, Apathy
All of the fear based stuff causes entropy and keeps us trapped in a tight little box. The emotions on the fear side are mostly dead ends and can stop us from moving forward in life. From my experience booze seemed to be rocket fuel for the fear side of the aisle.
Those that move forward in life aren't always 10x smarter, they just push through the fear. They see the fear but do the thing anyhow. How often do you see people stay in lousy jobs or relationships or whatever because of fear of leaving the comfort zone? Has fear affected you in any way or were you always 100% truely "fearless".
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Texas, a state of mind
Posts: 380
Great post!
When I was just newly sober, I visited my oldest brother who was still drinking heavily, and as we were riding in the car he turned to me and said, "What is different about not drinking?"
Without thinking at all I said, "Life without fear." It surprised me, hearing myself say that.
He laughed and said he was not afraid of anything except being sober. He quoted that old saying, "When you are sober, waking up in the morning, that's the best you are going to feel all day." So we had a little discussion about waking up without a hangover...
I think you are right on about the primacy of fear in the nest of negative emotions.
When I was just newly sober, I visited my oldest brother who was still drinking heavily, and as we were riding in the car he turned to me and said, "What is different about not drinking?"
Without thinking at all I said, "Life without fear." It surprised me, hearing myself say that.
He laughed and said he was not afraid of anything except being sober. He quoted that old saying, "When you are sober, waking up in the morning, that's the best you are going to feel all day." So we had a little discussion about waking up without a hangover...
I think you are right on about the primacy of fear in the nest of negative emotions.
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