Fear is a fickle beast.
When my oldest daughter was in the grip of a deep-seated clinical phobia, her fear took over everything. She practically became a hermit at 16, afraid of going anywhere. Luckily, we found an excellent therapist who taught him how to tame his fear, to manage it gently, to approach it in a way that allowed it to dissipate instead of continuing to dominate his every thought.
People who struggle with anxiety or fear, whether from trauma or wonky brain wiring, understand how overwhelming it can be. Fear and anxiety can sometimes feel incapacitating, making you want to run away or curl up into a ball and disappear. But none of these things actually help. In fact, the first thing my daughter’s therapist told her was that avoidance always makes anxiety worse.
Instead, she taught my daughter to approach that scary voice in her head. After all, this voice was hers, and she desperately wanted to be heard and understood. Ignoring him, avoiding him, trying to distract him just made him scream louder. “Maybe you’re right,” she said to that voice, even though it terrified her. “Maybe you’re right, and maybe you’re wrong. Let’s wait and see what happens,” became his mantra in his own brain, and as counterintuitive as it seemed, it worked .
I could explain the science of the amygdala, the brain’s fight-or-flight center that acts on instinct, and why the “Maybe You’re Right” approach helped train it not to react excessively. But one artist has created a visual series that describes it in different terms that may resonate more with people who have experienced fear.
Cécile Carré published her series of paintings on fear on Facebook and they have been shared more than 12,000 times. As with any art, interpretations naturally vary, but judging from the comments, people dealing with anxiety, fear, or unhealed trauma may find some truth in it.
The first image shows a girl curled up in the fetal position, her back to a large, scary monster heading towards her, with a word painted underneath.
“Every day…”
When the girl turns around and faces the monster, it immediately seems less frightening. Still big, still dominant, but not terrifying.
“…Trying…”
As the girl moves towards the monster, she begins to appear larger. The monster transforms into a mirror image of itself, the terror literally melting away.
“…look…”
And then it’s a child looking for comfort who rushes into his arms. Even his color begins to blend with his.
“…and kiss…”
And then a baby, who simply needed care, lovingly wrapped in her arms.
“…my fear…”
And then… nothing. Just a simple, quiet little diamond where the girl was.
“…until it disappears completely…”
The work of turning toward what you fear is neither simple nor easy, and it may require therapy, medication, or other methods to effectively treat mental illness. But this series of paintings shows what many feel when they stop avoiding and start approaching the roaring voice that tells them to be afraid. Although it’s truly terrifying to make that first turn, I’ve seen it in my own daughter, and it took a lot of effort to watch the beast shrink and finally disappear, it’s an incredible gift.
Thank you Cécile Carré for having illustrated this so beautifully. You can order his prints here.
This article was originally published on 06/03/20
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Image Source : www.upworthy.com