FEAR: Is it False Evidence Appearing Real?

So, I finally did it; I had my first mammogram, albeit three years late! The reason I ignored the first and subsequent request letters to attend? FEAR! I bet you’re thinking it was the fear of the results in two to four weeks. Incorrect! It was fear of the unknown, of being half naked in front of a stranger; of course, the subsequent results were part of it, but these fears were multiplied by listening to other women talk about how painful their experience was.

Even a tarot reader asking ‘Do you have an issue with one of your breasts?’ wasn’t enough to spur the visit, leaving me with nagging thoughts in the back of my mind that it was overdue, a churning feeling in my stomach, as, at the end of the day, breast screening saves lives.

Realisation crept in when someone close to me had a recall and I decided it was time to Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, as the book by Susan Jeffers suggests; ’the only way to get over the fear is to go out and do it.’ So, go out and do it - I did and I can attest that the acronym for FEAR, False Evidence Appearing Real, is true! I’ll admit, it was uncomfortable, a tad embarrassing plonking a very personal part of your body on a machine to be squashed - twice - but painful, NO.

We as a species spend far too much time listening to other people’s opinions, and we really should make up our own minds. As individuals we are often far too influenced by another’s experience and focus on another’s story without realising they’re experiencing life through their own filters, which could differ from ours - and, in turn, deter us from taking action and moving forward in an area in our life and we remain stuck.