this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
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How do you deal with fear? (hexbear.net)
submitted 5 months ago by GamersOfTheWorld@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
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Most of the inaction I bear has been due to fear. Fear of reprimand and fear of violence in particular.

I'm reading a lot of lefty stuff (old posts, old articles, hoping I can make my way to books) and it seems like my biggest hurdle to becoming a proper leftist will be removing myself of these fears, if I ever want to do anything productive.

But fuck, fear is just so prevalent in my life. It could be my trauma, my privilege or literally anything else I'm not aware of. Whatever the cause, I don't like it, it's made me a worse person, and I wanna get rid of it.

Seeing as most of you are good about this, I want to hear about how you stopped letting fear and (social/physical) self-preservation control you.

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[–] booty@hexbear.net 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

For me personally, it really just boils down to setting it aside.

I know how likely car crashes are. I see how motherfuckers are out here trying to straight up murder me for no personal reason and without a care in the world. But I still get in that car and now it's out of my hands. All I can do is be aware and not be the reason for a crash. But if some absolute fuckhead runs a red light at 40mph over the speed limit and kills me, nothing I can do. That's scary, but I just don't think about it.

I'm terrified of death itself. If I thought about it I'd do nothing but hide under my bed completely frozen in a state of unending dread. So I don't think about it.

Any of the hundreds of people I see when I'm out and about could whip out a gun and shoot me at any moment. I could be scared of that. But that fear isn't helpful. If it happens it happens. All I can do is be aware of my surroundings so I can react appropriately to any dangers that might crop up and... not think about it.