KarensNewBlog: SCARY WEEK - WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2020

Are you afraid of the dark? Of spiders? Of drowning? We all have fears - some fears are real (and good) and some fears are irrational and can get “inside our minds”!!!

The linked article suggests these steps to counter fears:

-1 Take Time Out

When you are in the midst of an anxiety attack or fearful, it can help to clear your mind. Take a walk, take a bath, make a cup of soothing tea.

-2 Breathe through the Panic

The article suggests: “Stay where you are and simply feel the panic without trying to distract yourself. Place the palm of your hand on your stomach and breathe slowly and deeply.

The goal is to help the mind get used to coping with panic, which takes the fear of fear away.”

Slowly and deeply inhale and exhale. An article I read recently said count to four as you inhale; hold that breath for a count of four; exhale for a count of four, and then count to four before you inhale again. Think of a square (or box) with each side being four units - inhale, rest, exhale, rest.

-3 Face your Fears

What are you fearing? Is it real? What are the consequences?

Maybe you are scared of getting COVID-19. While many have died, the great majority of people have recovered and are living full lives again. Have you had the flu in the past? It wasn’t fun, but you got over it!!!

Are you fearing the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election (one-way or the other). What can you do about it (other than vote). If the election points to person A or person B, what can you do about it? There are times you have to face your fears. In reality, will the winner of the Presidential election really change YOUR LIFE? Maybe your taxes will be higher or lower. Maybe some other things will happen, but to you in your world, probably very little will really be changed.

-4 Imagine the worst

The article says,

“Try imagining the worst thing that can happen – perhaps it's panicking and having a heart attack. Then try to think yourself into having a heart attack. It's just not possible. The fear will run away the more you chase it.”

Now, I’m going to hijack this for a minute. Because I’m 73 years old and I am “lucky to be alive”, I KNOW that I will die someday. I can’t be scared of fear - it comes to all of us. I can try to escape for a while with exercise, good nutrition, a positive attitude (like LOVE WINS), but someday I will die. It might be fast like a car crash or it might be slow like slow cancer - but we are all going to die.

Now that isn’t very comforting, but, to me, sometimes just knowing that I’m going to die anyway can cut my fears back.

I did have fears about money. Will my (our) money last through retirement? I don’t know, and if it doesn’t, I guess I become homeless and die!!! (You are saying “Karen, you are generally a Pollyanna - that wasn’t very comforting!!!)

-5 Look at the evidence.

Let’s say I have a fear of getting trapped in an elevator. Maybe a power outage comes and the elevator stops between floors. Do you know of anybody in real life that has died in an elevator (not in a movie)?

FEAR - the Phantom of the Opera is in my mind!! FEAR - the fear of <whatever> is in my mind. As some of my friends say “Maybe it is just my time to go” (that is dying)

KarensNewBlog

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

SCARY WEEK - WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2020

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