AUSTRALIA

My fear has to do with getting what I want. Sometimes I feel so selfish in my own endeavours that I delibrately set out to destroy them. This makes it difficult to acheive a lot because I am always objective to the point of incompletion. My conscience baulks at the moment the concequences of my actions are revealled. I am a single person in my early thirties and as yet have no want or need for a family, a car, a house, a vacation plan, whatever, and my ambition has been altogether good-natured but incredibly slow in coming in terms of asking for what I truley want out of this life. To understand my anxiety I would ask you to think about the notion of a collective responsiblity which goes beyond the normal parameters of social, economic, biological, political or anything idealogical. The metaphysical and mystical world of the unconscious is where most of my fears lay. I often experience a unexplained disquietude which seems to come from within but without any tangi! ble reference point to my individual psyche. This has made me expect the possibly of greater interaction occuring between all persons alive at this moment. We are all vital as far as achieving humanities balance. I fear if I tip the scales, and push my own self worth into the spotlight - all hell will break loose. I am aware of karmic forces which are busy at work and these forces have an inventory or agenda which is all powerful. Not all will be there at the end. I hope I am not, but fear I will be. Thanks.
--crag, Male, Australia

there not being anything after death. just darkness, really not even that, you wont know your dead, there will be no more you and mankind will not remember you
--Anthony, Male, Australia

Clowns are my biggest fear. Moreso when I was a child. I haven't put myself in any position to face one for many years, so I dont know how I would react to them these days. Driving a car is another one. Never obtained a driving license. Pathetic, I know.
--Rachel, Female, Australia

not being able to change, being stuck , not being sure what I think is correct , it could be a misconception. getting fatter. not being able to walk. best wishes
--Anonymous

I am afraid for the future of the planet. I believe humanity is on a path of destruction, and will take all life on the earth with it. The earth cannot sustain us in our needless consumption. The ecosphere cannot withstand our brutal impact. I believe we will not wake up to ourselves until it is too late. Prehaps it is already...
--Anonymous

Fears? Im afraid of madness , firstly in myself and secondly in those close to me. My mother was Bi-polar and I grew up trying to negotiate around the limits of her illness, so while I feel a great deal of compassion towards people expieriancing psychosis ,Im very afraid of loss of sanity, my own and others. Nightmares? My reaccuring nightmares always involved totalitarian armies or police forces chaceing me. Since I was a child Ive had nightmares about Nazi stormtroopers and the SS often Ive dreamt about concentration camps in which Im an inmate. I am not Jewish or a Gypsy etc.
--Paul, Male, Australia

I am afraid of myself and what I am, and what I have become. I am afraid of the world that we live in and what we can do.
--Timothy, Male, Australia

Not being able to trust, or be trusted. To be alone - without love, or hope. To be lost in an unknown wilderness - either real, or emotional. I fear not having a future - not having prospects for the future, to not become what I wish to - that is my fear. To lose faith, in people, myself and God. I fear many things, but my fears help motivate me into being successful in what I do.
--Fiona, Female, Australia

i am, figuratively speaking, afraid of the bogey man. i am afraid of hunger, i am afraid of the hunger of other people (?). i am afraid of nothing and of nothingness, i'm afraid of...
--Sadbada, Female, Australia

hunger
--Y, Female, Australia

I fear that I am in the wrong relationship, that the past three years have been wasted, that my dog wont have a mother when I leave and that if he leaves I wont have a dog. I fear that one day ill realise he's not the right one for me and then regret half our life together. I fear being left alone, being bored and angry. I fear of getting hit by a car even though i have never been close to it. I am in fear that I will get caught out but I am yet to figure out what I am doing wrong. I am in fear that I will one day come to work and my computer will be gone and I'll have to work behind a bar again because apparently I was really good at it. I am in fear tha he wont come home one night and ill have to pay all the bills alone. I am scared of starting conversations, of being responsible to entertain people I dont really know. I am in fear of forgetting what I used to be like before I became 'serious', that I will never be childish and flirtacious, and very spur-of-the-moment.! ! I still fear my lecturers even thought they were very nice to me, they should have told me that five years studying art would lead me into graphics. I fear that I will lose my looks and then assume I am going to lose the life I have, that he will go for someone younger and better.
--Shannon, Female, Australia

I am afraid of quite a lot of things, such as heights and closed in spaces, but more than anything else, I am afraid of myself. Afraid that I shall never accomplish any of my dreams, or that I shall hate myself, that I really am what I see on those dark lonesome nights, or that I shall turn myself into that because of my fear.
--Shanna, Female, Australia

Being unloved
--Sammie, Female, Australia

afraid of never resolving this need to have a child - what if I leave him because he doesn't want one, and probably never will now we've been together for 7 years - how do I really know if it is a child I want when I have never had one to experience anyway...it's just a very deep lack...something missing. Anyway, that's my heart's sorrow and fear. I don't want to be bitter person, and I don't want to stunt anyone's growth. How do you know when to make the right decision? Am I too old already anyway?
--Jan, Female, Australia

Of not being enough, doing enough- getting enough done. And yet I fear nothing. Fear is the source of all discomfort and dis-ease. Life is not meant to be feared.
--Starry, Female, Australia

Fear in oneself...not creative when I needed to be...
--Korene, Female, Australia

Oh... the usual bourgeois fears: success, not being liked, failure, waking up alone, waking up in a state of melancholia yet again... I fear that my ignorance and stubbornness will hurt someone, that my society is fragmented to the extent that I don't know who lives next door. I fear that I will age alone, that I will choose to stay with my long term love who doesn't want to be a father and may leave me when I am menopausal, and so denying myself the experiences of lifelong mothering. Oh yes, and I fear small, dark spaces. I acknowledge that my existance as a relatively affluent urban dweller, from a developed democratic nation, allows me to sit in front of a computer and dwell on my fears (and wonder if grey is "really" the new black). I am a voluntary inmate here - I could choose to stop using these fears as yet another procrastination device, and just "get on with it" and do my best to contribute to the world in a "brave" way. I do not have to worry about not having enough to eat, I only need one pillow, and I don't need to worry that my children are going to be slaughtered today. I fear that many levels of our world's social stratum will not be represented in this project. And it scares me that I am capable of violence.
--Jacinta, Female, Australia

My fear is that my partner is not my true love. I fear for the future. Because life seems unpridictable right now. Things seem to happen and I don't seem to have any control over them. I am afraid of change and if I make a decision it will be the wrong one.
--lara.robertson@dpc.vic.gov.au, Female, Australia

Fears? Nightmares? fear of failing , being found out that i'm not good at what i do, that i'm realy a shy scared 5 year old covering by being loud & bold when all i want to do is run & hide.those are my fears. (good luck with the project , it sounds great, can you let me know how it goes cheers doug)
--Doug, Male, Australia

I am afraid that my friend Margo and her husband Doug will stuff themselves up due to their own fears of failure. I am afraid of this because I love them both. They are both artists in their own rights and have a talent that the world would love and appreciate if there was the chance to do so.
--Sue DeVries, Female, Australia

Where can I start ? The question asks what I am afraid of but there can be so many thing to be afraid of. Can it only encompass the superficial ? I mean, I am afraid of growing old, not having the best of everything, not suceeding ( exceptionally well ) in my chosen profession...etc... Or I can read it as fearing the day my parents or sister dies, or even my little dog, or fearing that my boyfriend is the one and only right guy for me. They can all vary in size and magnitude, but I guess the crux of the matter is.....that I fear not living my one and only life to its upmost. You could also put this down to being very late at night, and a chronic case of sleep depravation. ???
--Erin, Female, Australia

I fear regret. I have had so many opportunities, in fact a spiritualist once told me I was born with luck and great spiritual protection ( I am not a believer but sense a truth in what he said). He criticized me because I had been given so many opportunities , for health wealth and happiness but neither recognised them nor took the right path. I seek always what I consider the safest and least imposing on others, in life - others always come first. There were so many things I wanted to do and I had all the opportunities to do them. But I gave up the acting role to a friend (because it meant more to her) - I didn't pursue a man because another needed him more - I gave another the house because he was lost without a base - I didn't go out with E because the man I was living with might have been hurt despite the fact he was sleeping with my friend. I have given up these things because I was raised to always try to consider others. I still do. In my work I risk losing my job so that others can seem more generous, I withhold information so that others don't loose their jobs - making me the guilty party. It's not that I regret doing these things and it is not that I am a martyr but in the mean time I wonder if I had been more like those I aided and abetted perhaps I would be more than I am now. That generic what if. Yet so far I am happy, so far still content. But as I get older and the years start to show and the scars of my choices no longer fade. I fear the what ifs and the if onlys that creep in every now and then (for now)
--Joanna, Female, Australia

I'm afraid of madness.I'm afraid of living out the wrong path for myself due to avoiding what I fear in my life!!!! I'm afraid of never-ending lonliness. I'm afraid of being laughed at. I'm afraid of hurting people. I'm afraid of being stuck in a rut. I'm afraid for the future of the world.
--Fiona, Female, Australia

That there are no chances left.
--Doobie, Male, Australia

Fears? BEING ALONE, INTRUDERS, NUCLEAR WAR, HATE, NO TRUST Nightmares? I AM A LITTLE GIRL WALKING DOWN THE STREET. FLASH! THERE IS A HUGE PIECE OF MACHINERY, IT'S SO LOUD AND I,M SO AFRAID. THE LITTLE ME ON THE STREET IS OBLIVIOUS. I TRY TO WARN HER, TO WARN ME, BUT SHE(I) CAN'T HEAR MY SCREAMS.
--Althea, Female, Australia

Of not reaching my potential. Of wasting precious life and the oppurtunity to contribute to humanity, our understanding of ourselves,the planet we share and attempting to assist healing: psychologically, spiritually,phisically etc both myself and those around me. I am an artist too. Goodluck!!
--Marie, Female, Australia

Mine is also not finding anybody to love me. Also I have been realizing lately with the assistance of my psychiatrist that one of the reasons that I became an artist is that I live in fear of being put away into a lunatic asylum as my grandmother was by her husband. Powerlessness is one of the least enjoyed of my emotional states and I live in fear of this. Therefore the more grants, shows, good reviews, scholarships I get the better I feel about myself. I'm wondering what to do about this.
--Liz, Female, Australia