I wanted to bring you up to date. As of the writing of this post I have officially weaned off my Anti Depressant. This was my decision. I have felt for some time that the drug was blocking any progression I was seeking. What resulted was about 5 weeks of emotional and physical upheaval. And what often comes with upheaval? Revelation! So ...
Dear Fear--- SHAME ON YOU! Shame on you for using fear to control and belittle. Shame on you for empowering bullies to taunt and harm. Shame on you for ... I stopped here about 6 days ago. I had it on my To-Do List to get back to this post for almost a week . That happens sometimes. One day you are pissed at "Fear" and then six days later you find yourself looking at the unfinished post wondering ..."What did I mean to say here?"
I don't want to change my post. I mean, it took me almost five minutes to find the cool picture. Why waste it?
Fear is most often a good thing. It tells us about dangerous situations and keeps us from doing stupid things. It's when Fear makes you unreasonable and cowardly that I get annoyed. Thinking back to when I was a kid I remember feeling fear many, many times. I was never a fighter. I was not brought up that way and when, as an eight year old, another kid told me he was going to beat me up after school, that fear often paralyzed me. I now wonder what fear was doing to the kid who threaten to beat me up. For all the threats I received from grade school through to High School, I never did anything to deserve the threat of bodily harm. So, what Fears were my bullies feeling that they had to pick on a kid just minding his own business? It must be awful to be that person who lashes out at someone, not really know why they are doing it.
The funny thing about my bullies is that once they reached adulthood they turned into good people who were able to let go of their fears. I have met a few of them who told me they were not proud of their younger selves. They admitted that they couldn't even remember if there was a real reason for them to dislike me and threaten. (Except for Dave in High School. Yes, I was trying to steal your girlfriend. Sorry.)
So fear takes on many forms. Right now there are children who fear going to school because of a bully or are afraid of speaking in front of the class. I want them to know that eventually it gets better. Everyone experiences something similar to what they are going through. Please reach out to parents, teachers and friends. Once Fear is out in the open it will likely shrink to something small and not worth worrying about.
