Do Not Be Afraid Of Fear

What is fear? It is a natural defense mechanism. It is an emotional response to danger. It was given to man and animals to preserve life.

Multitudes live in overinflated fear. What used to be called Nervous Breakdowns are now called Panic Attacks or Anxiety. These disorders are uncontrolled fear, fear on steroids, I am not advocating this type of fear. But maybe if people understood fear a little more they could learn to control their fears instead of being ruled by their fears.

Fear itself is a good thing, it is a necessary evil. Why do we want to pretend that we don't need it anymore? Humans have become so arrogant that they don't want to deal with anything that makes them uncomfortable and fear is uncomfortable.

Fear can most certainly save your life. It can save you torment and trouble too. It can keep you from making bad decisions and bad choices. What some people call intuition or premonition may in fact be a type of fear, a warning signal.

We can try to rid ourselves of our fears by desensitization. Dwelling on things that cause you fear or imagining how things could possibly go wrong in your life will not desensitize you. You will only imagine things much worse than they might actually be and you will end up having a severe case of anxiety.

So what is the best way to overcome your fears? Don't. Learn to deal with your fears and find answers for your fears instead of trying to overcome them. There are reasons why you are fearful, figure out what those reasons are and deal with them.

If you fear losing your job then come up with a Plan B, start working on a resume. If you fear spending the rest of your life alone, start looking for someone to share your life. If you can't make relationships work then start looking at yourself and asking the hard questions. Make the needed adjustments and try again.

If you fear death then you need to look at your spiritual life. Study, don't take a person's opinion or teachings. Learn for yourself, until you are fully persuaded that you are ready for your journey. Don't be lazy in this aspect of your life.

The worst thing that you can do is to deny your fear, to push your fears away and stop listening to them. Fear is a human emotion and very necessary. If you stop fearing then you place yourself at great risk.

Overcast

Our hay is scheduled to be baled at 3:00. It has been so overcast today that I am not sure it will be ready. I keep looking at the weather radar and the forecast, just to keep my heart rate up and my panic attack going. The radar looks bad but the forecast isn't too bad, just a 20% chance of thunderstorms after 2:00 pm.

It is just so much more devastating to get your hay wet now that it cost so much. I won't be able to breathe at a normal rate until it is all in the barn loft.

I was offered the opportunity to buy 100 bales of pure alfalfa for my goats at $4.00 per bale. I am torn with the decision. Should I keep my goats or sell them? I could buy a lot of milk this winter with $400. Plus I wouldn't have to go out in the freezing weather to feed, water and milk. I would have more time to work on websites, rope halters, spinning and crocheting. I might even learn to spin on my old spinning wheel.

The goats are a constant problem. Three of them have learned that if you run real fast you can get under the fence without getting shocked. They normally don't want to get out but when I bring one to the barn/house to be milked the others just follow. I have been having to put halters on the escape artists and tie them up before milking the other two.

Cooter is always a problem too. I have to stake him out all day and move him 3 or 4 times per day. That will stop when cold weather gets here of course, because I will be feeding him hay. But I am going to have to fix a permanent place for him to get out of the weather once it starts getting cold. I kept him in the horse trailer this past spring but that isn't going to work for a long period of time. I don't want to breed Calico and Cinder back, so he can't go back into the goat lot.

I do enjoy my goats, I love taking care of them and milking. The excerise that I get from them is important. The patience, longsuffering and anger management skills that I glean from them is priceless. They certainly do not pay their own way. I love the milk but my Husband doesn't drink very much of it. So I have to decide if they are worth all of the money and the time that I put into them for the few benefits that I get back from them.

I think that I have already decided to let Cinder and Collette go but I don't know about the others yet. My DH keeps telling me that I need to sell Cooter but I really like him and I don't want to have to send my does out to have them bred, you always risk to much doing that and if you just go out and buy a buck when you need one, then you risk bringing in diseases.

So I guess the question is do I sell out completely or just cut back to two does and a buck?