
Fear – according to dictionary.com –noun 1. a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. 2. a specific instance of or propensity for such a feeling: an abnormal fear of heights. 3. concern or anxiety; solicitude: a fear for…


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by Josh
20 comments
another seeking soul - your honest post is so encouraging to read and a healthy reminder. we need MORE people like you in this world… more real. more souls wanting to shine through the facade we almost have to put on to survive. but there is no need! only that which we perceive. we can be candid. we can be true. to ourselves. there is freedom in that. freedom in knowing we can be who we were created to be and no condemnation. just the reward of truly living. for opening up your heart to share with this wide wide world, thank you. “in curing one soul, you save millions. for you’ve saved an entire generation.”
Carly - I came across this quite randomly but it found me exactly when it needed to. Fear is holding me back. In fact I’ve taken quite a knock with my photography recently that it has held me back for the past few weeks and today was the first day I’ve thought, you know what, you’re not going to hold me back anymore, I may not win all the time but I’m going to at least try. So I am so happy that fate brought me to this blog post and I applaud you for writing this. I am so glad you felt the need to do this and confront the fears that have held you back. In fact I reckon you’ll me surprised by the amount of ‘me too’s’ you may receive. May we fight our against our fears in a way that keeps us who we are. All the best to you!! P.S I think you’ll find you’ve covered your first fear
mike - Love it!!!
janie - I read this post after I read the post you recommended on gratefulness and both have left me thinking. Number one of all the things I am grateful for on an hourly basis with so much hurt and need going on right now worldwide, but also of the things I miss out on because of fear. One of those would have been that brunch, because I didn’t know a soul. Somehow the invitation came across my computer and I jumped at the chance. Then the fear set in and BIG! But let me tell you, you and your wife were the third and fourth people I met and you BOTH had smiles on your face and nice words. The fear started to leave. If I looked at your list, like the person said above, there are a lot of me too’s but there are also a couple of , wow, I didn’t see that in you. I just want you to know that I appreciated the chance to get to meet you, you all were so welcoming. I was a stranger and didn’t really feel as if I was. So run around the grocery store, my daughter and I will be dancing with the princesses in the princess aisle at Target. The older I get the less I care who catches me. Thanks for the post and the post on the other one. I love things that make me reflect on how I can be a better person and it is always nice to know someone has the same fears as I do.
(p.s. really impressed that you got to meet Jesh de Rox!)
Becky - Wow. I relate to this so, so much. Thank you, Josh, for sharing with us!
Kelley WC - Way to put it all out there Josh
You’re an awesome person and a great friend! I feel your pain on this subject and have been having similar thoughts after reading sarah’s posts. It’s hard work trying to be a good person and lead a truly fulfilling life…keep your head up and keep pushing yourself – you’re doing a great job friend
Andrea - I relate so much to this one: I fear that I’m not doing the best job of raising my kids that I can. I need to be there for them with no distractions more often.
This is something I’m working on and it makes me feel better to know that others fear and feel the same.
michelle cormack - oh josh, i totally hear you. so many times i hold myself back thinking “who am i to think i can do that?”. and while the answer should be “who are you to think you can’t do that,” it isn’t, not very often. fear is so powerful and i wish we had better tools to manage it as adults. thanks for this post. talking about issues like this is always the first step to overcoming them.
Alexa - Fear is tough. But, what I always ask myself is “why am I scared of that?”. And often, I’ll find I don’t know, and if I do, the answer is sometimes ridiculous. It doesn’t always work, but it does help to ask yourself that.
And in my opinion, you fail if you don’t even start one of those projects. You fail if you don’t try.
Any you’re right, we’re always growing, learning, changing. I try to remind myself that when I start feeling bad about something.
I think it was very brave to share this. So, it’d seem you are already on your way to concurring those fears! Good for you… Both for sharing, and wanting to better yourself!
Now I’m going to concur one of my fears… I’m going to start leaving my web address in the comment boxes. For some reason I’m really afraid of what others will think of my photography. We all have our fears!
Jono - Hey Josh, some of my friends have been reading about this idea of conceptual frameworks. I think it really relates to what you’re talking about. From what I understand, everyone has a conceptual framework which is what we use to understand reality. This framework is built by our experiences, education and it defines what our values are. Realisation of this means that we are able to change or alter our conceptual framework if we choose to. I think our fears come from not wanting to change our conceptual framework because we are actually challenging what our realities are! But why should we challenge reality? Why face our fears? Like you said; to learn, or to develop our understanding of reality. Kind of like a search for truth? What do you think?
Hailey - Hi Josh and Jenny!
You’re photos are so amazing! They inspire me so much, and I love the way you capture real life =]
I take some pictures myself but am mostly scared of using a flash because I just don’t know how. Do you have any tips? I hate the hard shadows that they cast. What can I do to lessen those shadows?
Thank you for taking the time to read this! Keep up the awesome work!
Hailey - Hi Josh and Jenny!
You’re photos are so amazing! They inspire me so much, and I love the way you capture real life =]
I take some pictures myself but am mostly scared of using a flash because I just don’t know how. Do you have any tips? I hate the hard shadows that they cast. What can I do to lessen those shadows?
Thank you for taking the time to read this! Keep up the awesome work!
dave - fear is the opposite of faith. faith erases fear, and fear erodes faith.
carl zoch - thank you for helping me to not feel alone in some of my fears.
taylor tholen - that’s awesome man. it’s refreshing to hear people actually open up a bit. the internet isn’t great at getting people to truly do that… and i feel a lot of these same things.
I imagine people will look at you differently after this post…. that isn’t always a bad thing.
heaven - the more i read and learn about this human condition the more I see how close we are. I love the internet/fb/twitter for this reason. Winter’s corresponding emotion is fear…so it is no wonder it’s been coming up for so many of us. You are real and alive and you feel… thank you for sharing from your heart! I blogged on fear last week, put all my nubby raw bits out for public consumption. Your post connects and resonates. thank you dear one.
{if you care to: http://greenchairstudio.blogspot.com/2010/03/human-bits.html}
Denise - What an honest, heart-felt post this is! Thank you so much for taking this risk and helping the rest of us who are risk-averse realize that it’s OK to take risks.
You said “I’m afraid that after I post this blog post people will look at me differently.” And they probably will. I don’t really know you (I have a photog friend who does) but my impression of you has changed – FOR THE BETTER. Your honest introspection, your analysis of how you fit into your world, your desire for your life, the things you want to give back to the people you meet, what you want for your children … all of those ideas are beautiful things to share. So beautiful, and yet we don’t talk about them enough… thank you for having the courage to ‘be deep.’
Lots of people – well, *I* have a lot of the same fears, and talking about fear is SO uncomfortable. But addressing fear – even if we just learn to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ – is how I’ve started to grow in my career, in my relationships.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and your journey.
Nicole Polk - hi josh, i’m just getting around to checking out everyone’s work that i met in Vegas and this brought a huge smile to my face! not because i enjoy people having these fears, but so happy that you are able to express it and put it out there in the world. kudos to you! just know that you’re not alone
so happy to have met you and jenny and can’t wait to see you again in june
Jennifer Cuscino - “I’m afraid that after I post this blog post people will look at me differently.” – Josh
You’re right we do, and it’s a good thing…we look at you and say THANK YOU because you’ve challenged all of us who have read this to do the same. Thank you.
The Day I Turned 30 - [...] written about fear in the past. I’ve grown so much since the day I wrote that. I’m happier. [...]