Brendan & Lori O'Gara

I am not afraid of much, not really. There is my fear of being alone. Not just alone for an afternoon if my husband is busy and all my kids are at school. I mean, alone, alone. Like A.L.O.N.E. alone. No family, no friends. Pure stillness and silence. Just me and a ticking clock. No one to look forward to seeing me. No one to worry when I don’t come home. No one to love. I am terrified of it. I get anxiety when I wake up alone too. Like, where did everybody go? Usually, they have gone to the kitchen.

Then there is the fear of public speaking. I get all my words straight in my head and have notes. I practice too. I still manage to trip up on my words and forget to say things that are important. I have had people say after, “You did great.” Of course, most of those people are my friends or family. I will hide behind my keyboard and write, thank you very much.

Facing the fear is supposed to be the way to cure it. Did I mention we, Brendan and I, are speaking in public on May 1st?

I have overcome the fear of flying and I actually love flying. I am currently working on not being afraid of snakes. I am not a big fan of crowds of people in a small space. Not afraid of it just have anxiety and lack of air when it happens. I am a big fan of breathing and breathing is difficult in small spaces.

What are you afraid of? Look, if I can come out from behind this screen and actually speak in public, you can overcome your fear too. Face it. Show your fear who is boss.