10.18.11

On my way home from work today I passed a black billboard that read "Are you prepared for a disaster?" It then gave me a three step process I should follow to get prepared:
1. Get a kit (a first-aid kit was pictured)
2. Make a plan (it showed a picture of a clipboard, so I should probably get a clipboard, too)
3. Stay informed (to do this, I should apparently consult my laptop, since that's what they were showing)


My first thought was, "If there's a 'disaster,' I'm going to need more than an ace bandage and Neosporin, and a laptop that probably won't have internet access."


My second thought was, "Why is it necessary to make the general public live in fear?" 


From billboards that proclaim a disaster is imminent, to the grandmother of the student I have who apparently has a basement full of bottled water and chicken noodle soup as she anticipates the new End of the World date (10/21), to the newscasters that tout you with things like, "Are your windshield wipers giving you cancer?" I have to believe that if these things aren't making us sick, the sheer worry and living in fear probably is.


This can't be healthy. 


And now I reflect on the "fear" tactics I use in my classroom.


More than once I've uttered the words, "If you do it one more time, I'm _________." Insert threat: signing your card, writing a referral, calling your mom, etc. 


Is there an age when fear is appropriate? And what about the fear that keeps us from doing silly things, like jumping off bridges without parachutes or bungee cords? Right? Or, what about the fears that happen for a fleeting moment, that drag us down deep, but then we rise up and realize all is well? Are those okay to have?


So maybe certain fears are healthy, and others simply not so. We have to individually differentiate between what is a good fear or a bad fear.


But then we also have to take it a step further by not allowing the fears to consume us. 


Ah yes, easier said than done.


Here is where I should offer up some sort of sage advice, right? Some phenomenal meditation or other practice that allows you to release your fears? 


Fact of the matter is, I'm not even good at that myself. I had a pretty big baby scare yesterday, and as I'm completely consumed by the worst scenario imaginable, someone says to me, "Remember your yoga philosophy. Stay positive." In that moment, right there, I one hundred percent could do nothing but cry and wallow and freak out like freaking was going out of style. 


So for me to say, "Stop and breathe and don't worry," well, I need a good healthy dose of my own medicine first.


My moment of intense fear passed, everything is perfectly okay with the baby, and I found some clarity in the situation, but fear was all-consuming at the time. 


I suppose where I made the healthy decision, is that I let the fear lie in the past, and I'll move forward without it.