Fear #3
Let’s put this one under speculative fiction. As those of you who write fiction know, some of fiction is based on non-fiction (people, places and actual experiences we’ve had.) We’ll take 15-20 minutes to sketch out this next exercise using Fear #3.
You’re walking down the street one day and you catch a reflection in a window. At first it startles you. You stop to take a closer look. You realize that person is you but ten years older. It’s the future you. (How will you look?) Your future you has come to help you with fear #3 to avoid a calamity–maybe one you’ve already undergone or may go through if you don’t deal with this fear. What does your future self help you with? Are the two of you successful at getting passed the hindering fear?
You may continue to write if you need to. Remember you can always go back to this website and pick up on the rest at your own pace.
2 Comments
Kristina March 30, 2020 - 21:48
Fear number 3 is losing my home.
I am a single mother, raised by a single mother, my paternal grandmother was a single mother, I come from a long line of single mothers.
Home security is historically a major issue for single mother’s, my own mother struggled with this as I was growing up. As an adult, she helped me secure the home I’m in now, this home came with a serious mandate from my mother.
“Whatever you do Kristina, DO NOT LOSE THE HOUSE.”
So, I worry that I am not capable of keeping up the continued maintenance, insurance and other responsibilities involved in maintaining a home. I don’t quite feel like a responsible, home owing adult even though I’ve done it for over twenty years now. I sometimes feel like an imposter, or like I‘ve just been lucky. It’s difficult to acknowledge my own successes because I’m afraid of being arrogant or being caught off guard and losing everything that I‘ve worked for over the years.
I think perhaps my older self would tell me that, we survived whatever loses befell us, we managed to survive. If I lost my home I would not be without shelter for long because I have the ability to provide for myself
Yolanda Orozco March 31, 2020 - 05:38
Fear #3 -Failing
Me in the future would still have black/brown hair. I am still going to dye my hair like my abuelo did way in to his 90’s, Ojala viva. I’m stubborn like him too. I’ll still be fat, but a with a little less of it. Hell, I’ll never be skinny, but my partner loves my curves.
My future self tells me to stop worrying about failure because I have done a lot here. She lists a few of them for me to acknowledge.
• First to go to college and graduate from a good school
• Blessed to have traveled outside of my state and this country and lived in my father’s country of Bolivia. Traveled to England and around the US.
• Survived a drunk driver and learned to walk again at 29
• Survived an alcoholic step-parent
• Survived attempted rape at the age of 10
• Survived molestation from two family members that started at the age of 5
• Blessed to take care of elderly relatives
• Blessed to have a job while people are suffering through a virus
She tells me that I need to take care of my health because I tend to take care of others first and run myself ragged. From taking care of my mom when I was just a child to holding down a full-time job while taking care of two elderly tias (one who can no longer walk, and the other wandering around with Alzheimer’s ravaging her memory), I’ve been a consistent caregiver to others though out my life. I’ve put myself last. But, not taking care of myself first, would be the biggest failure because they wouldn’t have anyone to take care of them if I am no longer here. She tells me that they will pass peacefully, well taken care of, and I will be able to live my life, but only if I take care of my own health. She tells me to learn to meditate, take time to do something that I enjoy, and learn to laugh more. She asks me what brings me joy that I do for me, and I reply. “I used to write.” She smiles at me through the window, places her right hand on her/my heart, and whispers…”Write, hermana… Write…oh! And stay hydrated! You gotta let that skin glow!”