Tough Love and Forever Overcoming Fears

I'm in a bind...with what to write about, so I decided to share a little piece of background and information about myself. It's the story of how I learned about fear; the power of fears and the need to face them:

When I was about eight or nine years old I had a tremendous fear of spiders, than one day, I was cleaning the bathroom as part of my weekly chores, when I saw a spider nested behind the toilet. I screamed and ran out of the bathroom.

My step mom came down to see what the ruckus was all about. I was almost in tears and told her about the spider. Now, what you’re about to read might shock you…

She didn’t go into the bathroom to kill the spider—instead, she locked me into the bathroom with the spider. I panicked. I screamed, yelled, cried, begged and pleaded to be left out. She told me the only way out was to kill the spider.

I remember sitting down in the opposite corner and talking to myself to calm myself down. I came to realize I had to address my fear. The only way out of this situation was to face my fear. I dug deep, decided I wasn’t afraid and found the courage to kill the spider.

When I was finally let out of the bathroom that day, I had learned an extremely valuable lesson, at the tender age or eight or nine…Don’t let your fears corner you and lock you up. Have the courage to face them. The only thing between you and freedom is facing and surmounting your fear. I'm grateful to have learn such a valuable lesson so young.

What might sound like a traumatizing experience, made me face my fears and from that day onward to today…there’s nothing I won’t take on. I don’t hesitate or blink in the face of fear or adversity.

I don't recommend going to extremes to overcome a fear, but I say seek out what makes you fearful and do something about it...it's the only way the fear will vanish.