Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself

The Daily Stoic for September 9th, “Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself”.

“But there is no reason to live and no limit to our miseries if we let our fears predominate.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 13.12b

I have written about fear before.

In the article Overcoming The Fear Of Earning Money Or Charging For Your Services, I talked about how freelancers are sometimes scared of charing a proper fee for their services. In You Are Never Too Old To Change Your Life I discussed how we should never be afraid of changing our life and do different things.

In Fear Is A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, I described how my own fears were holding me back when I was working in a cubicle and thinking about quitting and becoming a freelance.

So I think we can all agree by now that fear is a powerful enemy. Probably, our worst enemy. How do we fight it?

Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself

I would like to have an answer right now. There are some things that help and some others that don’t.

In my case, rationalizing my fears has never worked. As an example, since I left the hospital, I’m feeling like I am improving and getting better every day. Still, sometimes I have a pain somewhere or a slight headache and I can’t help but feeling a tight know in my stomach. I know antibiotics are working, and my fever’s gone by now, but I’m still not feeling completely recovered so there’s a part of me that’s still alert and watching.

Meditation and stoicism are tools that help, but also sharing time with my partner and watching a film or entering a Netflix spree. I am trying to enjoy the weekend without worrying about anything from work. In the end, I think it helps to set your mind out of your worries and into other things.

I guess in the end it’s all about not worrying about things that may go wrong until they happen, but I’m still struggling with getting there.

Conclusion

Today’s Daily Stoic, “Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself”, talks about how our fears can paralyze us and become our worst enemies. I myself am still trying to find a bulletproof way to cope with it.