Do you suffer from any of the 6 basic fears?

According to Napoleon Hill, the human existence is reduced to 6 basic fears:

Fear of Poverty.
Fear of Criticism.
Fear of Ill Health.
Fear of Loss of Love.
Fear of Old Age.
Fear of Death.

A NEW YEAR (A.N.Y.), a new way question series:

Poverty

Poverty is often equated with the adage of "being broke". I don't think that describes the word truly for everyone's definition is as unique as they are. Ask someone who can't keep a job and a millionaire what constitutes being broke and see if you find any similarities. But is that poverty? Poverty is true hardship or the state of being extremely poor. Can you imagine losing everything and living that way for an extended period of time? The homeless that color our street corners are examples of people that live in poverty. They can incite a wide range of responses but what happened if you lost everything and had to live on the street? That terrified me so this is definitely one of mine.

Criticism

I knew a gentleman that had amazing talent in oil painting. Some of you may be too young to remember this but there was this advertisement for art lessons in almost every publication. The artist sent a sample of their art and they received word back if they had enough talent to continue on with lessons. The man sent his sample in to be told he had no talent. That one statement crippled him and despite all the pleas and bargains his family made, he never painted again because he couldn't risk being criticized. Criticism can cripple anyone's dream or self image if not done constructively. For someone like myself who felt that I was never good enough, this fear controlled my life. I was always afraid of what people would think about me.

Ill Health

I have a friend of mine who has almost gave herself ill health with her fear of ill health. The internet has been her saving grace a few times but it was mostly her curse for every answer she found was the worst case scenario. Heaven forbid something out of place occurred physically for she would fly into a complete panic attack and expect that she was going to die. I had to talk her off a ledge many times when she shared with me her symptoms. Everything turned out to be minor but the upheaval she went through was heart wrenching to watch. I have at times jumped to conclusions and became frightened over a physical peculiarity but I wouldn't say this is a strong contender for me.

Loss of Love

Ding Ding Ding!! I remember being in a relationship where I thought I would have died if he ever left me. I was so dependant on this man for my identity because in the process of our relationship I lost sense of who I was. All that was left was my need for him and my misery. Compromising yourself in hope for someone loving us is the most painful experience to go through. Under no circumstances will we be alone so we will do anything to avoid that. We lose two people when we do that: First off we lose the one we changed for because of the lack of respect. Compromise of that level demands a lack of self respect and without that you won't receive respect. Second, and most importantly, we lose ourselves. It took me a long time to find myself again after that relationship.

Old Age

Take a look at our media and culture and see how much hatred and avoidance we feel towards getting older. Natural beauty, grey hair and wrinkles are not embraced and millions, if not billions, of dollars are spent on products and service to combat looking your age. The longer you can look like you did when you were 25 the better. I'm sorry, but the overuse of plastic surgery has made us all look like mannequins and it's far from flattering. Youth has tricked many to believe that it is the key to happiness. This fear drives them to torment their bodies and pocket book with whatever "snake oil" product that promises results. I had this fear at one time and I went to a seminar that asked me to face my biggest fear. At that time I was enamored with my hair. It was just recently highlighted with two flattering colors. I realized then and there my greatest fear was to face the loss of my hair. I went to the barber and had them buzz it all off until all that I had left was barely a quarter inch left on the top. It was very enlightening.

Death

There are two main reasons why people fear death: damnation and doubt. In some religious doctrines, fear is taught to people about what happens after they die; the unrighteous are eternally punished after death. Because no one is perfect, the sinner lives in constant fear of the end result for they don't know exactly what constitutes unrighteousness. The flip side is that they preach the good news of a savior but little comfort is felt if the sinner doesn't have faith. Doubt is based on the fact that no one has died and come back with hard core evidence about what happens when we cross to the other side. There are a few heavily supported theories but theories they remain for they haven't been proven. People are naturally afraid of the unknown so it goes without reason why this is a huge fear for most. I don't personally have a fear of death.

Answer down below how these fears impact you. I will start the first reply.

Did this response resonate with you? I would love to hear your take on the question and how it impacted you. Please post your thoughts below.

On January first, I posted our first article in this series explaining a new way to approach New Year's resolutions. Each day we will explore a different question that challenges us to understand ourselves better. The format will be as follows: I will post the previous day's question with my answer followed by the next day's question for contemplation.

Tomorrow's question: Do you have a way to shield yourself from the negative affects of others??

Response posted tomorrow.

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