Friday, September 01, 2006

What Would Be Different...If You Take Away The Fear

Just a quick note to say I am going away for the holiday weekend. I shall be back on Tuesday with, I am sure, some great stories to share : )

For now I want to leave you all with a question. You don’t have to answer it right away if you don’t want to but just sit and ponder it. Answer it if you want, leave it anonymous if you must but I just want you all to think about this

What would you do…if you were not afraid?

Whenever I had a problem or a conflict in my head or any confusion and I asked a wise wise person what I should do..this is the question that was given to me.

You all know. It is that crossroads. That fork in the road. The weary feeling. The confusion. The stress.

The question is something to ponder and I want all you readers to think about this one.

What would you do if you knew when you jumped that a net was down there?

What would you do if you knew you would not get hurt?

What would you do if you knew that when you swung you could not strike out.

What would you do..if you took away the fear?

Think of it this way. Fill in the blanks. "If I were not afraid of _________, I would ____________"

Ok, that’s all : ). Think about it. Have a great one!

25 comments:

jibber.jabber said...

if i had no fear i would...

- try skydiving
- ride my mountain bike harder and more extreme
- sing openly in public (more often)
- swim with sharks
- ignore my ex
- not be lonely

as for things being different; if i had no fear yet others around me continued with theirs i am sure i would become one of those overbearing, melodramatic, adrhenaline seeking idiots everyone wishes to avoid at all costs.

on the flip side... my 'x' wouldn't be able to walk all over me as much.

m.

minijonb said...

if i were not afraid... i'd be happy.

i live too much of my life through a filter of regret. it's very unhealthy.

Scott said...

I ask the same question quite a bit, especially when I am afraid. I ask the question with, what would you do in this situation if you were not afraid. I try and go with that answer when making decisions. Great question and have a great Holiday Weekend.

Scott

-J said...

I think the only thing I would really do differently is ask more women out - the ones that I think are totally out of my league. *shrug* However, given my luck with women, fear may be a blessing.

Rachel Heather said...

Jibber - first assignment is a) to not feel lonely and to stand up for yourself around your ex.
the skydiving can come later :)

minijonb - afraid of what in regards to happy?
and if there is anything you regret - go make it right

there are your assignment.


Scott - I do that too. I wish everyone would. The problem is we get very paralyzed by fear. We get afraid of getting hurt or failure or whatever and instead of protecting ourselves we just get stuck in the same spot over and over.

J - well since you have bad luck with women it is only because you think and believe you have bad luck. plus you are afraid of getting hurt or hurtting someone. So your assignment is to ask three women out this week.

Anonymous said...

Probably stand-up comedy.

Rachel said...

If I had no fear...

I would drive a lot faster

Tell people how I feel without filtering my words and being afraid of hurting their feelings or scaring them

Go to college and get the degree that not having is holding me back

Have more confidence in myself

Go skydiving or base jumping

Sunbathe on a nude beach

Dz said...

If I had no fear...
Not sure, I ask the question every day, but since I left my ex last year the whole"fear factor" is very different.
-I am not affraid of my ex(any more)
-I went skydiving last week
If I had no fera I would quit my job and do not sure what...

mollymcmo said...

you changed your profile pic! i likey :)

great post, if i had no fear i would....man, i'm going to have to think on that one.

for sure try sky diving/bungee jumping, maybe speak my mind more often.

really, life is much too short to be afraid huh?

m

Jill said...

Great question and one I will definitely apply to each situation on a going forward basis. I know I've said this to you before but you truly are a wise woman. I feel like I should start calling you Yoda only you're far too cute for that!! :)

Have a great weekend!! xo

Anonymous said...

I'm almost afraid of thinking of the answer. Have a nice weekend.

shpprgrl said...

I honestly have no idea. I will think it over.

You have a new picture. It's great!

CP said...

If I were not afraid of fear, I would fear being afraid.

Ok..that's creepy. Even for me.

Truthfully, I don't think I would like not having fear. Fear is what keeps us alive from making death defying leaps of faith. Fear guides us to sound decisions and profound proclaimations. Fear of the unknown is what drives scientists and psychologists to make discoveries and cure those that are riddled with fear.

You question rocks past life princess!

Peace!

deepsat said...

another beautiful post!! and something to really think about.

here's my two cents!!

If I were not afraid of the future, I would perfectly happy in the present!!

have a great weekend rach!!

;-))

twobuyfour said...

Hey - you changed your picture! It's like you're a whole new woman!

If I were not afraid of hurting my children I'd tell them what I really think about their mother.

If I were not afraid of losing my children I'd tell my former spouse what I think of her.

If I were not afraid of living the rest of my life in prison I would kill the guy next door who parks his SUV in the unoccupied handicap spot. (The cops say it's private property so they can't do anything. The landlord says they don't care.)

If I were not afraid of catching a cold or getting fired I'd go to work nude.

If I were not afraid of getting even higher insurance rates I'd keep driving fast.

If I were not afraid of ending up in the poorhouse I'd fly to Paris or Italy for my wedding.

Lydia said...

This a tough one, because sometimes I feel afraid but don't know what I'm actually afraid of. Just that the fear stops me taking chances.

But without the fear:
I'd travel anywhere on my own
I'd move somewhere new
I'd always ask people what's up rather than sometimes making assumptions
I'd feel more confident
I'd truly fulfil my potential

Phil said...

If I had no fear I'd leave a comment on Rachel's blog and I'd break the chain letter chain, which of course I didn't.

Unknown said...

If I was not afraid of rejection, I would put myself out more socially.

If I was not afraid of failure, I would quit my job and move to a new city.

If I was not afraid of dying, I would travel to Israel.

If I was not afraid of disapointing my parents, I would tell my mother how I really feel.

If I had not been so afraid of my ex that I denied that he date raped me, I would have had him arrested - thus changing MANY aspects of my life since that day.

Grumpy O. Selznick said...

heya sunshine, just letting you know I linked to you from my sidebar (lemme know if its OK)

Keshi said...

Great Qn.

my answer:

I would have lived, not existed.

Keshi.

Steve said...

"If I were not afraid of making a complete idiot out of myself, I would actually try karaoke

Slim said...

If I wasn't afraid of what he would do, I would have told the lunatic I waited on tonight that he's insane and full of shit.

If I wasn't afraid of failing and being destitute for the next 10 years I'd go to grad school.

Kathryn Craven said...

if i weren't so afraid of...i don't know what...i would get over being so goddamned propper all the time. i have vast amounts of restraint. i don't tend to utilize it in the blogsphere, but...you know...

(i'm late in commenting. sorry)

Anonymous said...

I'd probably start small; tell my customers what I really think then I'd tell my freinds what I really think when they asked, Hell then I'd really get into the spirit of it & tell everyone what I thought without fear they'd send for 'the men in white coats'.

Get my eyes lazered.

Learn to surf.

Learn to ride a motorbike, buy 1, leave my life, pack my bags and 'f*** off' to God knows where...see where the wind blows me. Of course I damn well know who'd I'd take with me...but that will never happen.

Anonymous said...

I had to think about this one for a while but I'm going to give it a shot.

First of all, even though I'm afraid of heights I'm still going to bungee jump, sky dive, ride rollercoasters and drops of doom. There's much more thrill built into the ride when you're simply scared of climbing a ladder or leaning too far over the third story balcony.

Now, if I were not afraid of public humiliation, I would definitely go into public speaking and comedy. I've been told to do it before but I've always had a fear of audiences or being watched. Small groups are fine but organized audiences are where I draw the line.

As was mentioned by others, if I were not afraid of rejection I would absolutely ask more women out. This probably has a lot to do with a lower self-esteem and lack of spending actual time around new and different people. Being stuck in the same group of people you had previously asked out or that are totally unavailable is definitely not condusive to building up confidence in this area. This will hopefully change with my recent move though :^)

On another note, I'm digging the new profile pic as well. mmmm.