FEAR IS REAL

The fear I most felt, and for many years, was the fear of dying. Born in 1946 I used to be scared of dying before the year 2000 at the age of 54. I used to get worried about diseases, accidents, and other misadventures which might bring about my death.

Strangely, at the age of 77 in 2023, I no longer have the fear of dying. I don’t really know why I changed but the threat of death faded. I even contemplate dying by voluntary assisted death should I finish up with a mental or physical disability.

But there are some things I will never overcome: They remain real.

I live in Darwin and have been in the Northern Territory since 1975. The two things I really, really fear are earthquakes (given that we have so many tremors and shakes emanating from the Banda Sea, and cyclones.

Every November, from the very first day of the cyclone season, I begin to have a fear of cyclones. That fear is with me until April 30 of the following year, when the cyclone season officially ends.

So I’ve overcome one fear, that of mortality giving way to death – but the fear of these other phenomena, earthquakes and cyclones, remains with me and I cannot overcome my apprehension.