Confrontation

For as long as I can remember, I've thought that the more you confront something, the less it controls you.


I have horrible stage fright. Like, my body freaks out: my heart pounds, my voice cracks, and my hands shake. So I spent much of junior high and high school on the stage because I wanted to confront and conquer that fear.
When I got into a car accident at 16 years old and had terrifying flashbacks (images of the other car smashing into the driver's side door), I concentrated on those flashbacks, because I didn't want that fear to control me. When I'd wake up in the middle of the night, I didn't try to pray them away; I focused on them.
When my parents got a divorce, I spent several months confronting issues in myself that I thought could eventually lead to future marital troubles in my own life, even though all the trouble was happening at home, 300 miles away from college. All because I didn't want those fears to control me.


The downside to this approach, to always confronting every major issue dead-on, is that it's difficult and takes time. The upside is that those things no longer have control over you. In my opinion, it's worth it for the upside.