What Would I Do If I Wasn't Afraid?
 

I just finished reading Who Moved My Cheese?
It is the story of four beings (mice and/or people) in a maze. They run through the maze day in and day out until one day they find a large store of cheese. So they camp on it. For a long time. They get very comfortable with that cheese. Then one day they wake up and the cheese is gone. How they each react to the cheese being gone is the real point of the story.

It is a metaphor for change. As I was reading it I started mentally changing 'cheese' to 'buzz'. That fit my situation better. Who Moved My Buzz? I discovered this great store of feel good buzz. So I camped on it. But eventually the buzz was gone. It didn't feel good anymore. I kept doing the same thing to try to get it back, but it didn't work. I didn't want to look for a new way to feel good. I wanted the old way to come back.

One of the characters in the story does the same thing. He stays in the same place, doing the same things, hoping that one day the cheese will come back. He doesn't want to go back out into the maze and look for different cheese.

Then one day he wakes up and asks himself, "What would I do if I wasn't afraid?" And he heads back out into the maze.

It wasn't easy for him in the maze. He had to learn new things. He made mistakes. He had bad times. But he eventually found new cheese.

What would I do if I wasn't afraid?
I would stop drinking.
I would pursue new job skills.
I would quit my high-paying job and start my own company.
I would mend relationships with friends and family.
I would laugh more and make new friends.
I would find new buzz.

I did all those things. It's not because I wasn't afraid. I was terrified. But those were the things I wanted, and I wasn't going to allow being afraid stop me from getting them.

What would YOU do if you weren't afraid?

Great post.

Sounds like a great read!

Thanks for sharing this!

I also struggle with change, but I've gotten more comfortable with it throughout my journey to sobriety. I am very happy and content with my life right now, and if I hadn't faced the fear of change, I wouldn't be here.

The girlfriend is waiting for a proposal, I suppose that's the next biggest fear I need to get over. Not even sure why it's fearful, probably the change, the label, the unreasonable and unexplainable fear.

It's an amazing book. I loved it. :)

Thanks for that timely post Nons. Fear is extremely corrosive to our wellbeing, trapping us in familiar circumstances, causing us to miss out through fear that usually exaggerates the consequences of failure.

Fear is obviously an essential survival instinct but a lot of our low level fears are often pretty irrational if you were to apply something like a risk analysis to them. Even more irrational to people like me who swallowed a pint or half a litre of 70% proof spirits three days out of every four.

I love this post! I read that book maybe 15 years ago? It was amazing! I read it when I was going through career change and found it so powerful. I like how you applied it to drinking. It could be applied to dealing with any change in life, really, in a positive way. . I feel that I should read it again because my work place has been going through restructuring and there is some change I’m not all that happy about.

I think it would be a good book for teenagers too, as they learn about expectations in life.

Good post!
I read a book called "Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway" - the title says it all.
Just make sure the bungee cord is secure :-)

Thanks for posting this (just placed a "hold" on it at my local library).

Nice post nonsensical.
Since my girlfriend went vegan she has stopped asking who’s moved the cheese.
:)