Facing Your Fears

They say the only way out of Hell is to climb over the devil himself.

I've never read Dante's Comedy, but I'll never forget the description above that a professor told me once. While "the depths of Hell" may be a cliche in our modern lingo, that is exactly where Dante goes in this poem. The lower he gets, the worse it gets. Finally he is in the very basement, he is at rock bottom. Yet, his biggest challenge is yet to come: The devil stands there. Dante climbs over the devil and immediately there is a paradise of color, lightness, laughter and music.

Anyone who has been through some rough times in life may notice something uncannily familiar about that story.

I've struggled a lot with obsessive thinking and anxiety in my life. I've spent days just watching the wheels go round and round, not able to stop my thoughts and just reeling from the onslaught. I have recently come to understand how passive the whole experience is. I'm the victim of my own mind, I'm a passive victim to the thunderstorms in my head. I just sit back and watch the fireworks as I go on long anxiety trips. I just wait around and hope they stop.

People wonder why I don't have an interest in watching movies, thrill seeking or even drug use. Spend an hour in my head and you'll long for cartoons and comedy, too. It is like asking someone in the ghetto why they don't have an interest in daredevil stunts, like jumping out of a plane--They get all the adrenaline they could ever need just walking home from work safely at night.

I think the trick to dealing with anxiety is not be afraid anymore. It is true that the only thing you have to fear is fear itself. Whatever you are worried about is either true or not true. All your worry doesn't change whether it is true or not. The sooner you just accept it for what it is and quit running from it, then sooner you can break through the fears. Running from fears is often necessary, but it is usually only best as a temporary fix. You can't retreat from the fear for long, because it stays with you as a cancer of anxiety. You can't go around it. You can only go right through it. Climb over the devil himself and you'll see paradise, too.