Which is harder for you, facing the fears you know or facing fears you are anticipating? Do you fear the known or the unknown more? I was asking this question as I sat here seeing and hearing all kinds of predictions of a major ice and snow storm approaching a couple of weeks ago. We were getting warnings concerning the storm for a few days.

The grocery stores were mad houses all day before a single snow flake had been spotted and this madness was not limited to my area. I read reports of this same madness across several states. Some of the mad rush could be people stocking up for their “Big Game” parties. But the level of madness and the urgency of the people in the stores appears to have been driven by more than the game.

Evidently people were afraid of getting stranded by the storm and wanted to make sure they had enough chips and salsa on hand.

So which is it for you? The fear you have battled before, or the one that you believe is coming but haven’t yet faced that is more upsetting?

I believe for me it is a tie. The one I haven’t faced before is upsetting because I am not sure how it is going to impact and what strategy may work against it. But the one I am familiar with can be devastating because I know the impact it has had on me before and I don’t want to face it again. Especially if I didn’t work through it the last time.

The big issue is to find a way to face the fear whether it is familiar or not. The first need is to acknowledge you have the fear. As I wrote in my first post on facing the fear, ignoring that I have a fear does not help me to overcome or get past a fear. This year I made sure to include addressing a couple of my longstanding fears as I wrote down some of my goals for this year and in my last post on facing the fear I wrote that now I have to take some steps.

One of the steps I am taking in overcoming a fear is to share the fear and the steps with someone who will keep checking on me to see if I have taken any of the steps. It is critical that I share the fear and the steps to overcome the fear with the right person. It needs to be someone who has access to me. It needs to be someone who cares about me. It needs to be someone who will confront me and not just tell me it is okay if I keep putting off taking the steps to overcome. It needs to be someone that I care about as well, otherwise I may not care about what they say to me.

I have started this process. What is working for you in facing your fears?

Dennis