Do we / can we overcome fear? Or do we just learn to manage it?

I ‘fear’ lots of things. They don’t all necessarily hinder my daily life, but who’s going to tell me they don’t fear a herd of rampaging bull elephants? How would you plan on overcoming that fear? It’s bound to cause at least an inkling of trepidation, surely?

Even ‘managing’ fear in this scenario would prove a tad difficult, I’d suggest. Perhaps it would be best to simply ‘accept’ the fear.

I think that’s what I do. I don’t overcome, I accept.

What follows is a bit of a cheat. It’s a post, in part reproduced, from over two years ago, but sort of illustrates the above.

Well, not the bull elephants, exactly. They refused to walk up the stairs and squeezing them into the lift was out of the question …

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Within reason, I actually enjoy accepting my fears.

For instance, I’ve always been afraid of heights. I don’t suffer from nightmares, but one recurring dream has me faced with a drop of about only thirty feet from the roof of a house. And yet, twenty years ago, I did this:

The Macau Tower is 338 metres in height. Why did I do it? What did it take to persuade me to face my fear?

It took only six words, passed in jest:
“Do you fancy doing that, Colin?”

I didn’t need asking twice – I guess you could say I’m a bit of a foolhardy show-off! Of course I was scared. I was scared witless if truth be known. (WITless, I said 😉) However, the buzz and smug satisfaction I felt when I got back onto terra firma easily trumped my fear.

Sometimes though, it’s the plain, ordinary and innocent that creates a fear no man can describe.

“Does my bum look big in this dress, dear?”

Uh oh! Where’s that herd of rampaging bull elephants?

😉🤣

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