🌴 TREE 119: Fear! It’s everywhere!

Fear is just about the most powerful human motivator. Advertising uses fear to sell because it works. Politicians use fear to get votes. Religions use fear to make converts. Parents use fear to make their children behave. In business, fear is the basis of a million decisions every day.

Once in a while this is a good thing. There’s nothing wrong with giving your kid a healthy fear of being smooshed between the tarmac and an SUV.

More often, it leads to stupidity, anger, blame, unhappiness and more fear.

This is a good thing to keep in mind when interacting with other humans.

Be kind and patient. People are scared.

I’m writing about anxiety and fear this week. Bonus: on the web versions of this week’s posts so far, I’ve added some links to some good source material and some classic Dr Pepper adverts.

Important notice: Everyone’s mental (un)health experience is unique. Just because a thing worked for me, doesn’t mean I’m prescribing it for you. Nothing I write should be taken as medical advice.

Nevertheless, I hope some of what I share will be useful.

Grow slowly.
Jeff

Love is one good antidote to fear.

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