Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told.O

Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave.

I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me. Insisting on this story was a form of mind control, but for the most part, it worked.

we become the stories we tell ourselves

Thought is the origin of fear.

Danger is real. Heartache is real. Fear is not. It’s a story we tell ourselves.

It was a deal I’d made with myself months before and the only thing that allowed me to hike alone. I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me. Insisting on this story was a form of mind control, but for the most part, it worked. Every time I heard a sound of unknown origin or felt something horrible cohering in my imagination, I pushed it away. I simply did not let myself become afraid. Fear begets fear. Power begets power. I willed myself to beget power. And it wasn’t long before I actually wasn’t afraid. I was working too hard to be afraid.

We live in the stories we tell ourselves.

No one is born with fear: we learn it, create it, and perpetuate it. Therefore, fear's biggest secret is we also control it.

Fear makes us fiction writers.

To learn what we fear is to learn who we are.

every human culture is created by fear,

To learn what we fear is to learn who we are. Horror defies our boundaries and illuminates our souls.

Where do one's fears come from? Where do they shape themselves? Where do they hide before coming out into the open?