Is there a new wave of fear ahead of us?

A passenger in a taxi leaned over to ask the driver a question, gently tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove over the curb, and stopped just inches from a large plate glass window.

For a few moments everything was silent in the cab.

Finally, the shaking driver asked the passenger, “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, but you scared the daylights out of me!”

The badly shaken passenger apologized to the driver and said, “I didn’t realize that a mere tap on the shoulder would startle someone so badly.”

The driver replied, “No, no, I’m the one who is sorry, it’s entirely my fault. Today is my very first day driving a cab. I’ve been driving a hearse for 25 years …”

That’s just a humorous story, but it is true that many people have a fear of death, a fear that has been highlighted over the past year.

Like a thick fog rolling into the San Francisco Bay or a cold London night, fear crept across the world when the global pandemic began.

In a recent prayer update, I informed the Board members and Prayer Partners of Scott Free Clinic I think there may be another “spike” in people experiencing a new wave of fear in 2021. This time, it won’t be a fear of death that may heavily impact people, it will be fear of life.

Or, in this case, what many have been referring to as the coming “new normal.”

There’s a real possibility that fear will be a very real issue for many as we move further into the year and move out of the pandemic, because many people are literally afraid of change.

Things have changed, and some more change is yet to come in 2021.

For those who have just been waiting for things to get “back to normal,” they probably will be able to return to living life much the way they did before the onset of the pandemic. But chances are, for all of us there will be some degree of change, some measure of not being able to go “all the way back” to exactly how things used to be. Part of what lies ahead will be having to decide what part of the “old normal” do you let go and make no effort to retrieve, what changes that have already happened do you finally embrace, and what changes do you still need to make as part of ushering in the “new normal.”

With that in mind, let me share three thoughts about moving ahead.

1. Fear is more quickly vanquished when faced head-on and without procrastination. Some will be tempted to try to avoid moving toward change, but that will only stoke irrational fears and prolong needless emotional suffering over it. The quicker you address what is changed or changing, the faster you’ll move through the initial experience of having to adjust to what changes there will be for you.

2. You can hesitate and allow circumstances to define your “new normal,” or you can embrace change and define it yourself. If you initiate stepping into life after a pandemic, you have greater opportunity to bring definition to it. If you procrastinate, you’ll have to settle for what moving forward serves up to you.

3. Use moving out of the pandemic as a fresh start to a brighter future. This is a grand opportunity to dump old, bad habits, irrational ways of thinking, and unhealthy patterns of living and carry into the more immediate future new habits that foster a better way of living. If you don’t take this opportunity now, will you ever take the initiative to make such positive changes in the future? Most won’t.

If Scott Free Clinic can help you in this process of change, you can contact me directly at dr.scott@ScottFreeClinic.org.

Scotty