Nothing to fear but fear itself

Truer words have never spoken, and I'm almost embarassed to use them in the context of my life, because I really have not had too much to fear. I recently heard Joe Schlesinger, the journalist, interviewed on CBC's The Current. He talked about his life, and how his Czech parents had to send him off to London at age 10 to flee the Nazis, and he never saw them again. Imagine the fear he must have felt, how did he overcome it, to move on to become a successful journalist and human being.

When I turned 40, I was diagnosed with health anxiety. I had recently miscarried, left my job to work at home, and moved into a new house. In September of my 40th year, I developed "real"pain in my abdomen, and an unbelievable anxiety which stemmed from my belief I was going to develop some fatal disease. I saw my GP, a physiotherapist, and therapist. Read a few books on depression, and talked a lot to family and friends. If I wasn't dying, I thought I was going crazy. I lost about a year in my life, but made it through to the other side. Simply put, I feared my own fears. In a conversation in the park with my husband, we talked about how I could get better, what were the tools I needed. Not knowing my son was listening (he was about 5 at the time) he said, "whoever you were before you got sick, be her again". Easier said than done, but the answer was that simple. I had no definite fears, they were ones I created. Weeks went passed and with the help of medication, my GP and family I moved forward.

I still get scared but instead of curling up and letting it control me, I try to face it head on. It works for me. Thanks Mr. Roosevelt for those great words of wisdom. How do you deal with fear?