Facing Fears

Photo: Lena Del Ray

​It’s not normal to be afraid of bushes. Is it?
 
I found myself nervous to enter our backyard and eyed our oleanders with caution. My kids had used a black light to illuminate the bushes and had seen several scorpions hiding there. They asked if I wanted to see them too. I declined. If I didn’t see them, they couldn’t exist. At least that’s what I wanted to believe.
 
I’ve done yard work regularly over the past two decades without any issues other than occasional ant bites. But on my most recent venture into the backyard, my nerves were on high alert. Yet, the only difference between earlier treks there and this one was awareness.
 
I liked it better when I didn’t know scorpions hung out in my bushes. Knowing they were there gave me a sense of fear. Sometimes fear can paralyze us and keep us from performing certain tasks.
 
Fear comes in lots of shapes and sizes:
 

• Fear of failure
• Fear of the unknown
• Fear of heights
• Fear of clowns
• Fear of saying the wrong thing
• Fear of rejection

 
Fear can result in good.
 
In my junior high days, I made the girls’ softball team. In our first exhibition game, against the faculty, I was assigned to play left field. When one of the teachers hit a pop fly in my direction, all eyes focused on me to see if I’d catch the ball or drop it. Fear ranked pretty high in my thoughts during that game. Fortunately, I did catch the ball, resulting in the third out for the faculty for that inning.
 
That event boosted my confidence, and I ended up playing left field the rest of that softball season and the next two.
 
Fear triggers an adrenaline rush, which can help you face the fear or quickly flee from it. In my softball days, that rush helped me face and overcome my anxiety. It could have turned out differently. Thankfully, it didn’t.
 
As I eyed our backyard bushes, I heard rustling. My dog emerged, obviously unafraid of any creepy-crawlies lurking there. If she had no fear, why should I?
 
Our leaf trimmer roared to life, and I trimmed the oleanders, never seeing a single scorpion.
 
Fear versus respect
 
There’s often a difference between fear and respect. Fearing clowns, for example, doesn’t necessarily mean you respect them. But you can have a healthy respect for falling that conveys as a fear of heights.
 
Personally, I have a healthy respect for scorpions. I hope they have the same for me. 

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