Overcoming FearSample

THE LAND OF "WHAT IF"

“What if” is often the shrinking prison cell without bars. The weight of a thousand possibilities can become a crushing weight. It can be crippling as all the combined possibilities are overwhelming. If we hold on to the weight of all the negative possibilities, it leaves people unable to function.

The Health and Safety Executive says that 12.8 million work days are lost to stress, anxiety, and depression. The American Institute of Stress says it costs over $300,000,000,000 annually in lost productivity. This isn’t people just being lazy; the weight of all their fear can weigh heavily and begin to affect their physical body.

It can be easy to think that only what is real and physical affects us, but it isn’t true. On October 30, 1938, there was a radio broadcast adaptation of “The War of the Worlds” by H.G. Wells. The problem is that about 1/6th of those who heard it thought it was real. It sent around a million people into a state of full panic, as they thought there was a real alien invasion. There was no real danger, but they believed there was. Even when we watch TV or movies, knowing they are fake, they can produce a physical response in us. Our heart rate will change, some may make us cry, others may make us laugh. We can be emotionally upset and angry because of what we know isn’t real. We can see a commercial for good food, and our mouth begins to water. Because our body will actually respond to what is happening in our mind, not just what is physically happening. Which means when we lay hold of a negative possibility, our body can respond as if that were happening. Just as our mouth waters for the cookie on a screen, preparing to digest what we won't actually touch, our body can release cortisol and other chemicals in our body based on our focus.

Many times, we hold the weight of mutually exclusive possibilities, like “What if we don’t make it there?” and “What if we arrive and it doesn’t go well?” Both of these are possible, but they can’t both happen. But we can hold on to dozens of possibilities and be overwhelmed by so many things that can’t even all happen.

If we are struggling, we need to check our hearts and see what seeds we have planted, see what “what ifs” we are holding on to. Are we holding on to everything that could go wrong on our child's school trip, our vacation, work meeting, or conversation with our spouse? There is a reasonable level of being prepared, like putting on your seat belt, but once we do what we can, we have to let go of the rest.