This week I have learned (or remembered):

1. Fear is a natural human response to a multitude of things, and potentially to almost everything.
2. When you respond to fear by trying to escape the cause, you lead yourself into a life of hiding. (*this is obviously not the case if what you fear is a physical, immediate danger such as a rabid dog or a falling piano. In that case go ahead and scoot out of the way.)
3. When you're hiding, you alienate yourself from everything good that you're capable of. You may be able to avoid what you're afraid of for a while, but you'll feel it lurking behind you and wish you could hide even more. After a while the urges to hide get so strong they're almost like a desire to escape your own humanity. You are actually wishing not to be a person at all.
4. It's too late, you're already a person.
5. The only thing to do is to proceed with what you're so afraid of and go ahead and feel the scariness and sadness and anything else that comes with it, even if you don't know how to cope with it all.
6. Don't be a doormat.

The end.