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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio.
Good morning.
This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to be smart about your fears.
Sometimes fears can be conquered, and sometimes they are there for a reason.
Wisdom is about knowing the difference.
So I've been thinking about fears recently, one because this is airing around Halloween and also because I've been reading Farnoosh Torabi's new book A Healthy State of Panic, which is about how acknowledging your fears can be helpful for building your career and achieving success.
Anyway, fears are a complicated topic.
Some fears are deep-seated and some are just about what is unfamiliar.
Once upon a time, I got really nervous and scared of public speaking.
Getting up in front of big numbers of people and needing to entertain them for an hour is not easy.
But then eventually I learned that if you write nonfiction books, speaking about them is going to be part of your business.
I did a lot of speaking and speaking got easier.
If you give a speech once, it's scary.
If you give a speech a hundred times, it just feels like Tuesday.
Soon enough, I was in the Tuesday camp and didn't feel frightened by this sort of thing anymore.
I assume that this is what happens with people in any line of work that involves some common phobias.
If you spend a lot of time in airplanes, as crew members do, or as just general frequent flyers, do you stop viewing turbulence as terrifying?
It's just like going over a speed bump on a road.
If you wind up in a job washing windows or fixing roller coasters or something like that, you will get over any lingering fear of heights.
In any case, if you have some fear that is keeping you from doing something you want in life, then it's worth seeing what you can do to be more rational about it.
You might be able to do some small repeated exposures to lessen the fear.
Lots of people are afraid of investing.
You can lose money.
But it's pretty hard to build wealth without some form of investments.
So you can keep enough in safe assets to feel, well, safe.
And start small.
And learn as you go.
Over time.
Small paper losses won't feel scary, especially as you see that they tend to be recovered over the long haul.
If you are scared of public speaking but you know it would advance your career.
You can join Toastmasters or practice in front of groups of friends or give smaller talks to friendly audiences, like maybe leading a class at your house of worship.
You might still feel some trepidation, but you can decide to feel the fear and do it anyway.
I don't particularly enjoy flying, but I want to see the world.
And it is hard to do that without taking to the skies.
On the other hand, you don't have to conquer all your fears.
Sometimes you can just accept that they are your quirks, and you can build your life avoiding them.
I really, really do not like open heights.
So, I don't go rock climbing.
Some of my kids like it.
I try not to watch.
My little brother does rock climbing quite seriously.
Again, try not to watch.
It is just not for me.
It is likely that I will die without ever having gone skydiving or bungee jumping or things like that.
I am absolutely fine with that.
If you fear snakes, just skip those zoo exhibits.
It is fine.
Sometimes fears might be smart.
Some people give off warning signs of being mean or vindictive.
And it might be worth just putting some space between you and those people, rather than going overboard trying to conquer a fear of conflict.
I find the idea of feeling strapped for cash terrifying. especially being in debt.
So I have always prioritized building up a financial cushion, more or less so I can sleep at night.
I don't think that's a fear that I really need to conquer, since for the average person, the outcome is what financial experts recommend anyway.
In any case, as this episode is airing around Halloween, when we're thinking of fears in general, it's good to look at our own particular fears rationally.
Sometimes they can be conquered.
Sometimes they can be lessened and then lived with, if that makes larger goals doable.
Sometimes they can just be acknowledged because they're not really hurting anything.
And sometimes our fears are rational and maybe helpful.
It is good to understand the difference.
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening.
And here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas or feedback, you can reach me Before.
Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media.
For more podcasts from iHeart Media, please visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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Do not follow my example.
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Two rich young Americans move to the Costa Rican jungle to start over, but one of them will end up dead and the other tried for murder three times.
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They sort of went nuts.
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Listen to Hell in Heaven on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is an iHeart Podcast.
