How Contagious Fear Can Be

Recently I had a conversation with a friend who was telling me about some of his fears. One of his fears was about sharks and even though he has lived near the ocean all of his life he would not go in the water. After further discussion he had agreed to face his fear and go swimming with me in the ocean the next day. We parted ways for the evening, I got in the car, and headed home excited about the next days adventure.

As I was driving along it didn’t take very long for that excitement to turn to fear. I started thinking that maybe he was right. “Maybe I shouldn’t be swimming in the ocean either because there ARE sharks in the ocean” I thought. “Anyday I could be attacked by a shark too!” Then I thought, “Oh no, what if we go swimming in the ocean tomorrow and all his fears come true and he did get attacked by a shark. I would feel horrible! I would feel guilty because it would have been all my fault for encouraging him to face his fears and swim in the ocean.” I wrestled with those thoughts of fear for several miles.

Here I was, a person that has always Loved to swim in the ocean, becoming more and more afraid of being attacked by a shark. There are family pictures of my mother holding me up by the arms as a baby and dangling me in the ocean water. Some of my best memories are memories of me and my family at the beach and swimming in the ocean. All of those wonderful memories were being destroyed in an instant by fear.

Then, like a bolt of lightning, it hit me how contagious fear IS!

This fear had not come from a television ad trying to convince me to buy a product. This fear had not come from a politician trying to get me to vote for them. This fear had come from two friends sharing a harmless conversation!

Your fears ARE what you make them!