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Stop!
There’s a great quote that I wish was mine, but it’s from a really old timer, Seneca (born around 4 B.C.E.)
“We suffer more in imagination than in reality”
There are a few tidbits to cover here, maybe at the end, it’ll help, no guarantees.
First, let’s ask why this quote resonates and its foundation is simple.
Fear.
Fear is a very useful “reaction” especially if you’re spending every waking moment searching for food and doing your best not to become food. Living by your wiles.
But most of us are not living that way, so often the fear we feel is not helpful or productive. Fear is a warning system to avoid death from our days as cave dwellers. When you walk into your local TJ Maxx to make a return, the “fear” you may feel is a remnant of those primeval times. And unless your TJ Maxx experience is dramatically different from mine, death is an unlikely outcome just from returning those odd-fitting culottes.
I’m not going to ask you to completely disregard fear, but I am asking you, when you feel fear, to consider, thoughtfully the context in which you are in.
