Fear, fear, and more fear

FEAR:
False Events Appearing Real
Future Events Appearing Real
Screw Everything And Run

Fear must be an old friend. I must really enjoy fear. That's the only explanation I can come up with for lapsing into unpleasant reveries so effortlessly. I used to invite fear to come over and spend the evening. Just me and a few friends drinking rotgut whiskey and whiling away the time playing a little Bong 99.

Fear is a subtle foe. It is relentless and insistent. It whispers in your ear in the dead of night. It shrieks doom from rooftops. It sneaks in unnoticed and it roars in like a freight train. There is no technique that it will not try.

We can think hopeful and pleasant thoughts, or we can imagine pain and calamity. We can be optimistic, or we can shiver with anxiety. Most of the time the tragedies that we envision don't come to pass. Most of the time we just allow fear to waste our time and drain our spirit.

It isn't reasonable to expect a life without fear. Everyone gets afraid from time to time. And sometimes the fear is justified -- it keeps us out of scary situations and is an appropriate response to troubling life events. It's what we do with it. Do we work through the fear, banishing useless anxiety or motivating to solve difficult situations, or do we give in and drink? Pull the blinds, unplug the phone, and drink.

Easy choice, my friends.