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How Writing About Your Fears Can Lay them to Rest
The Graveyard of Fears (GOF) Strategy
What is fear? It is a survival response to protect us from psychological, physical, or emotional harm. It is a natural and biological response that is meant to keep us safe.
It is a learned response and the triggers vary from one person to another based on their histories. I want to focus on the fear in social situations and interactions with people that causes anxiety.
They say, “the past is a prediction of the future.”
What does that really mean? Every behavior has a consequence and when there is a pattern for past behaviors that were followed by similar consequences, then it increases the probability that the same pattern of behavior and consequence will follow in the future.
Can you break these patterns? The answer is a resounding YES. However, our fears alert us to the possibility of these past patterns.
Fear of disappointment
I recently wrote about how I wished that my mother, for once, would be accepting and if possible supportive of my life choices. I seemed to have done an excellent job of disappointing and upsetting her all my life.
