endlesspatience

I wanted to pass on something which hit me at a meeting today. The discussion was about fear and how it often leads to violence. I don't want share on the issue of violence but I was struck when a woman describes how alcohol had increased her fear and affected her life. She explained how she used to have a job which required her to be very brave, including a spell in Afghanistan. She wondered why now, when facing what seemed a much smaller challenge (a visit to the dentist), she was overcome with fear and couldn't do it. What she realised, she said, was that by using alchol to surpress fear for a long time, she hadn't learned how to deal with even small fears. She reminded herself of the cliche "Feel the fear and do it anyway." I could relate to what she was saying. I would also add that the fear of the consequences of the drinking was also constantly with me.

paulo

I also think there is a difference between having a fear of something you can control (job) and a fear of something you cannot (alcohol).

That would be the difference for me.

At the end of the day, if her job scared her that much, she can just walk away, but it's not as easy as that with addiction, and she knows that.

I'm not scared of anything, except the consequences of my drinking.

munchkin05

I can say the only thing that really scares me deep down is my son (5yrs) having to deal with this when he is an adult like I had to deal with it. (My mom is also an alcoholic but she's seriously in denial)

sugarbear1

My life was run by fear. Today, I have faith and little fears. Today I can walk through my fears and overcome them.

wow04

I was so full of fear early in recovery. My sponser told me that FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. So now, when that fear sneaks in, I just tell myself what it means. It has helped me many times.

eJoshua

I'm still working on tearing down my fears.

Taking5

I was told FEAR is F**k Everything and Run