Tuesday, November 9, 2010

What is your greatest fear?

If you had to answer this question in a single sentence, what would it be?

Would it be fear of being poor? Fear that you would not have enough when you grow old?

Or fear of loss of youth? That wrinkles will creep on your face, neck and hands.

Would it be fear of "losing out" to your friends? That you'd be that one loser amongst all your peers?

Or perhaps fear of being alone? Without a spouse or a lover to love and care for you. Or perhaps that your children will abandon you in your old age?

Maybe it would be fear of rejection - by your family and people you love the most.

Whatever your greatest fear is, life is rather sad if we live our lives to prevent our fears from coming true.

But that is what many of us do. Everyday, we work hard at our jobs, work out to keep our bodies in shape, keep in touch with our friends and stay on top of our investments. We work hard at our relationships and try our best to please the people around us.

There is nothing wrong with all these - but if our motivation is from our fears, then life is really rather sad, isn't it?

Shouldn't our motivation be based on our dreams and hopes of the future? Rather than on fears from our past experiences.

My greatest fear is that of rejection. I've sometimes jokingly thought it might be a middle-child syndrome. The need to be liked by people has always been very important to me. Why, I feel sad even when some anonymous folks leave less than gracious remarks on my blog!

But I am tired of having this fear guide the way I live my life and make my choices.

I want my greatest fear to be that of the fear of God and from there free myself from fears.

View of the clouds and the setting sun from 
my seat in the plane back to Singapore from Haikou

 As the sun sets even further, the colours became even more beautiful

5 comments:

Blur Ting said...

You must learn to overcome that. Do not let other people intimidate you. I used to be like that when I was younger, now I tell myself every man on the street is equal.

I fear that I cannot provide for my kids while they're still dependent on me. As they grow, my sense of fear lessens because I know they're able to take care of themselves. So if I ever have to go suddenly, I can leave without worrying too much.

Malar said...

My fear is that i can't provide the best for my son!
Anyway we have to overcome it! You're right. We have to work out from our dream and not by fear!

My Sinfonia said...

I fear the day I lose my marbles... when I cannot recognise my own family, do not know who I am anymore and no longer know how to do the things I love.

char_mee said...

This is food for thought. A different perspective of fear I had never considered.

Petunia Lee said...

I fear being poor and lonely when I am poor. Scared silly of being that!!