Fear of the New Thing
I like doing things that I have never done before. But I fear doing them. My body and unconscious self reacts against the New Thing. Every time.
My fears show their ugly head in a new disguise every time a new deed is approaching. My organism may try to drown me in stress hormones, and I’m unable to see straight for days, up until… the New Thing.
Headache is another typical guest in the days leading up to a New Thing. The pain is whispering; “Go back to bed, stay at home, call in sick!”, and I’m almost starting to listen at some point. I try to tell my self that I probably haven’t been drinking enough, until I realise that once again, it’s that Fear of the New Thing that’s hammering my dome and igniting my male hypochondria.
The paradox here is, that I know for at fact, that some of what makes me most happy, is exactly doing things that I haven’t done before. Doing New Things increase my feeling of happiness.
Yet, the fears remain.
It’s the reptile or the cave man in me, that surface in situations like this. My body is reacting on instinct. Reasoning won’t work, my intellect isn’t enough to convince me. Neither the reptile nor the caveman will believe what my cortex knows; I won’t fall, the ice wont break, I can manage.
To me, The Fear of the New Thing is a reassuring proof of evolution, of how little we know, and of what we’re not really in control of as a species. And it’s an area that renders room for personal improvement.