Recently I have put myself through some things that I am really scared of in my life which for a long time I thought I would never do. You know the kind of fear that takes over your mind and body, when you physically shake but at the same time cannot move, when your mind is screaming ‘RUN’ loudly in your head and there is nothing else there. I wish I could tell you that I was brave, that I did not want to drop everything many times and curl up in bed. I would love to be able to say that I took up everything like a hero with my chest out and calmly controlled my fears in my hands. But I did not. I was scared as scared you can be; I was afraid so much that a lot of times I could not think rationally, I could not speak rationally, I would cry afterwards.
I had read this interesting passage in the book that I am currently reading and it is about how our minds deal with pain. I thought that it not only describes pain but fits on how we deal with fear too as a lot of times these two things are intertwined. Because all the feelings and scary moments are still fresh in me I would like to share the passage with you:
“Perhaps the greatest faculty our minds possess is the ability to cope with pain. Classic thinking teaches us of four doors of the mind, which everyone moves through according to their need.
First is the door of sleep. Sleep offers us a retreat from the world and all its pain. Sleep marks passing time, giving us distance from the things that have hurt us. When a person is wounded they will often fall unconscious. Similarly, someone who hears traumatic news will often swoon or faint. This is the mind’s way of protecting itself from pain by stepping through the first door.
Second is the door of forgetting. Some wounds are too deep to heal, or too deep to heal quickly. In addition, many memories are simply painful, and there is no healing to be done. The saying ‘time heals all wounds’ is false. Time heals most wounds. The rest are hidden behind doors.
Third is the door of madness. There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are time when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.
Last is the door of death. The final resort. Nothing can hurt us after we are dead, or so we have been told.”
I don’t know if my mind has chosen one of the particular doors to cope with my fears but I do guess that it uses first and second one a lot of time. As I sleep and forget what I want to forget I go by better and better until the next time to be afraid comes along.
How do you cope with fear?
Yours,
Tina Teaspoon
Post Scriptum: The book that I took the quote from is called ‘The Name Of The Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss. If you like fantasy books then definitely read this one as it grabs your attention and does not let you go until you finish it all.
