Alan C. Fox

Do you believe that anything on the following list scares you?

1. Standing on a high ledge.
2. Buying a house.
3. Balancing your checkbook.
4. Making an emotional commitment.
5. Speaking before a large group of people.

If you said yes to any of these you fall into a nearly universal trap. Most people believe that when they are scared of something, the scare comes from outside of themselves.  It is perfectly normal to say, “[Whatever it is] scares me.”  If everyone talks about scare that way, then it must be true.

Right?

Wrong.

If the scare comes from outside of you, from a high ledge for example, then everyone in the world would be scared of a high ledge.  If the scare comes from public speaking, then why isn’t everyone afraid of it?  And, sadly, if you believe that scare comes from making an emotional commitment, then you’re doomed.  If you continue to believe that your fear originates from outside yourself you can no more change that fear than you can change the orbit of the moon.

I’m afraid to ride in a hot air balloon. But when I say “riding in a hot air balloon scares me” I automatically think of myself as helpless.  It is more accurate, and I think more helpful, for me to say, “When I think of riding in a hot air balloon I scare myself.”  I have to remember that my fear is not universal.  It doesn’t come from “out there.”  The scare comes from inside me.  Many people ride in hot air balloons and feel no fear at all.

My fear comes from my imagining that I might fall. The scare is not in the hot air balloon.  The scare originates from and remains within me.

If I asked a behavioral therapist to help me overcome my fear, she would ask me to imagine myself riding in a hot air balloon high in the sky, enjoying the breeze and the beauty of the morning sunrise. She would help me change my negative association into a positive image.

I used to be terrified speaking to large groups of people.  But to succeed in my profession I was expected to speak in public.  Though I continued to scare myself for about ten years, my actual experiences were positive.  I was never booed.  I never lost a friend in the audience.  In fact, I began to receive compliments on my speeches (which, at first, I didn’t believe).  Finally I was able to take the label of “fear” which I had stuck into my own head, and replace it with the label of “excitement.”  After all, when I’m excited my body feels pretty much the same as it does when I scare myself.

But maybe you would rather scare yourself. It’s comfortable to not take responsibility.  Maybe by now you simply accept your fears as an inevitable part of you.  You might even believe that if you were no longer afraid to balance your checkbook, or afraid to make an emotional commitment, you would lose an important and familiar part of yourself.

But remember that your fear always comes from inside of you, and you don’t have to hang onto it.  You can send yourself a new message, which starts with, “I scare myself when . . . “

In a few weeks I’ll be in Cappadocia, Turkey.  I’m planning to ride in a hot air balloon to view the unusual rock formations.  Will I scare myself?

I’ll let you know.

Alan

My mother was a very smart woman. She figured it out, whether it was a recipe that didn’t work the first time or how to raise her two sons.

One of the many things Mom figured out was how to buy shoes.

“If a pair of shoes isn’t comfortable, don’t buy them.  They’re going to fit exactly the same way tomorrow morning as they do right now.”

I wanted to buy many of the shoes I tried on.  Many looked great, but there was always Mom with her, “If the shoe doesn’t fit . . . “

My friend Roger taught me a lot about relationships (about what to avoid, that is).  Time after time, when we were in our twenties and thirties, he said to me, “I’ve just started dating this new woman, but it’s not going to last for more than a few weeks because (fill in the blank).”  Then a few months later he was living with the woman.  A few years after that he’d say, “We broke up because (fill in the same blank).

Where the relationship pinched his toes at the beginning, it pinched even more the next morning, the next week, and the next year.

Unlike Roger, I’ve always believed that a new relationship has to begin really well to have a real chance to succeed.  If a woman doesn’t like my sense of humor on the first date, her taste is not likely to change.  If her nervous giggle irritates me immediately, why should I suffer through the stomach churn of a date?  Familiar incompatibility breeds divorce.

If you like this blog, I have already made my point.  If the blog doesn’t fit . . . at least it’s short.

Alan

Yesterday I celebrated Independence Day with friends at a BBQ.  We scarfed down hot dogs, chicken, and ribs (burp), and enjoyed a hot summer day while the kids splashed around in the pool and we grownups dipped in the hot tub.  We also chatted about the state of the Union, and agreed that there are a lot of faces without noses in Washington, D. C.

When I was a kid I threatened more than once to run away from home because I didn’t like the restrictions my parents put on me.  “Anything must be better than this,” I thought.

In response to my threats my mother always said, “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I thought. Fortunately, I never actually ran away, or experienced losing the food and shelter that my parents provided. I didn’t make my own situation worse to make a point.  My nose stayed attached to my face.

But what about all those political faces in Washington, D.C.?  Maybe it started with the election of Barack Obama and the stated mission of Mitch McConnell who said, “Our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny president Obama a second term.”

I assume that meant that if the economy suffered, if more people lost their jobs, and if education continued to go down the drain, then the party out of power would benefit. The thinking, then and now, seems to be that if I cut off your nose you will vote for my face.

My purpose here is not to take sides.  Like a caring parent, I don’t care who started the fight, I only want my children to get along with each other.  I want them to realize that while they will have separate points of view and different interests and abilities, they are part of a single family and can accomplish more together than separately.

If Senator McConnell’s wish had come true, then perhaps Mitt Romney would be president today.  And then Harry Reid, in charge of the Democrats in the United States Senate, might work to undermine President Romney’s policies and announce, “Our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Romney a second term.”

Isn’t this more than a little childish?  Doesn’t a “scorched earth” policy invite little more than retaliation?  Isn’t it just like my eight-year-old threat to run away, to cut off my nose to spite my face?

So while public servants in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere are returning from their own celebrations of Independence Day, I suggest that they consider earning their salaries by serving the public instead of sabotaging anyone who disagrees with them.  How about volunteering one day a week at a school or hospital to set a good example?  How about having a live two-hour podcast with their constituents once a week to listen to and publically respond to the people’s concerns?  How about helping us out, rather than snipping noses?

Many voters in America have talked about running away to another country (New Zealand, anyone?) if one candidate or the other becomes president.  I say let’s stay right here and continue, as many of us do, to help each other out.

This is why my belated Independence Day message to all elected officials is this:

Your job is to help us.  So both this year and next compromise with the other party and actually accomplish something affirmative.  Put your nose back on your face, and we will be happy to vote for you again.

Alan