Re: RC: Re: Fear

[Howard4567@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/17/01 2:46:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
tamarahabberley@lineone.net writes:

> well fears quite a good thing , its a life preserve for a start off!

I agree.  Fear comes in two different flavors, kind of like cholesterol.  
There's the good kind and the bad kind.

For me, the start of a crowded endurance run, while trying to get up on my 
overly tall and hyper horse, the warm up period, when he'll probably rear up 
if I'm not letting him go in the direction he wants to, his being tense and 
tight as a drum, bending at the poll and marching out like he's ready to 
blast off at any moment.....these things do bring a touch of fear to my 
belly.  But it's the good kind.  The kind that lets you know you're alive and 
there's no other place you'd rather be.

Then there's the bad kind of fear.  The kind I get when I'm riding in a 
plane, remembering that night years ago when I was crossing the Atlantic on 
my way to Germany, and the plane dropped two thousand feet, so quickly and 
violently that my head hit the ceiling of the plane (I was sleeping stretched 
out a three seats without a seatbelt on).  I remember thinking for sure all 
on board that plane, including me, were gonna die that night. Out there, in 
the middle of nowhere, on a cold dark wintry night.  That's the bad fear, the 
kind you don't want to go through if you don't have to.

If you want to do something badly enough, but fear is stopping you from doing 
it, I'd say try and figure out if it's the good fear or the bad one.  The bad 
one is tough to overcome, but it can be done.  I won't get on a plane unless 
it's for a funeral or a wedding.  When one of those rare events do occur, 
it's one of the few times I'll drink something stronger than beer.  And if 
there's turbulence or bad weather you don't want to be sitting next to me up 
there at thirty-thousand feet.  I might tell you some Air Force stories 
explaining why I'm afraid to fly.

cya,
Howard