Fear as an Antidote
The Turning Feral Journal - Day 17
Day 17: Fear is an emotion that we all have an intimate relationship with. From early childhood, we conjure up things in our mind about what lurks just beyond what we can see. We wonder what’s hiding in the closet and concoct mental images of baba yaga or the boogeyman. But as we grow and learn, we realize that those childhood fears aren’t grounded in reality and there never was something to be afraid of. Sadly, though, we rarely grow out of that fear creation mindset.
As adults, we conjure our own boogeyman when we sit up thinking late at night about bills, jobs, addictions, partners, and achieving success. We create hurdles for ourselves and introduce anxieties for things that don’t even exist.
The only way to prevent this is to embrace fear as the antidote to your boogeymen. When you feel yourself slipping into a fear mindset, you need to recognize what’s happening and filter out the rational vs. irrational thoughts. This ability only comes through repetition and putting yourself into controlled fear situations. This could be through sporting events (jiu jitsu competitions or marathons), public speaking, publishing your writing, backcountry camping, or anything that makes you feel scared.
Put yourself out there, feel scared, conquer it, and repeat. The more you do this, the easier it will be to control the fear emotion that cripples so many and parse out reality vs. the boogeyman.
Daily Prompt: What is your biggest fear? How can you build resilience in small fears to help tackle your biggest? Write a few of those down here:
Motivational Passage:
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Psalm 23:4
Rewilding Action: Have you ever butchered your own animal for meat? If you were like me 6 years ago, the answer would be a resounding “NO!” … and that’s OK. The good news is, these days you don’t have to learn to hunt to start gaining this skill. Many local farms offer reasonable packages where you can purchase all or part of an animal, they will humanely dispatch it, and then invite you to be a part of the butchering process. They show you the cuts of meat, how to remove them, and how to package them. Just google butchering classes in your area and you will likely find options closer to you than you think!