Fear is your Worst Enemy

There is a famous quote that states that the best way to overcome fear is to face it. Eleanor Roosevelt once said that you gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. I really like that; however, applying what Eleanor said may not be as easy as it is on paper. Thus I decided to put it into practice.

When my daughter was born I realized she had a fear for animals in other words she had zoophobia. I should believe that she inherited that from her mother. Sylvia would adore seeing other children play with their pets or have the courage to touch pets or domestic animals but she wouldn’t dare try. She would cringe at the sight of any crawling living creature if it wasn’t human. During school trips to the Zoo my daughter would get so excited about going to see the animals but would only admire them from a distance. She would literally be shaken by the fear of those animals. She would attempt to get closer having being persuaded by her teachers but as soon as she got near she would cringe back in fear.

One day as she was watching a program on television she saw a young girl tending to her puppy. She then decided that she wanted one. Not a cat she said, but a puppy. She was precise at what she wanted. Luckily, my cousin had dogs which had given birth to some adorable puppies. My cousin was kind enough to give us one after I had explained to him about Sylvia’s fear and how we had purposed for her to overcome it.

On this particular Saturday afternoon my cousin Mike brought home the newest member of our family, Sam. Sylvia was so excited to welcome Sam home, but at a distance of course. She adored her puppy but did not have the strength to approach him. Sam was also very young about three months old and needed to adapt to his new surroundings. In actual sense both Sylvia and Sam had some adapting to do and also some learning.

As time went by, little by little Sylvia would try to extend a hand here and there to touch Sam, although it took a very long time for her to trust the animal. She would sweat at the thought of Sam feeding from her hands. However, she didn’t quit to attempt to feed him. One day as I read in my room she came by with Sam in her hands. You could tell from her posture that she was nervous but hey, she had carried Sam. That was a huge step she took right there. I had never been as happy as I was that day. My daughter challenged me to believing that the best way to overcome fear is to actually face it head on. It will not happen in a day but that one should not give up. One should make constant attempts to face their fears and eventually they would overcome them.

To this day, Sam would feed from my daughter’s mouth and I would be the one to cringe. Sam would lick her face and I would be the one to cringe. Sam would lie beside her and I would be the one to object. I guess I need some learning on overcoming fear as well.

Thus as Amelia Earhart would say the most effective way to do it, is to do it.