Change is hard. Even if we know the change is good, it's challenging. If we aren't convinced the change is good - if it requires that we step outside of our comfort zone and what we have previously believed to be true - it's very hard.
Often we fill the unknowns with dangerous outcomes. Those imagined dangerous outcomes can loom so large that we cannot accurately weigh the risks and the benefits. The thing we fear could happen is so big that it doesn't matter how small the possibility is or the historical facts regarding it ever happening. It might. It could. And that is enough.
Once that fear has taken hold, we don't care about another living soul. We don't care how our reaction to our fear may hurt another person. Realistic or not, we have entered survival mode. That's how phobias grow and freeze a person's ability to cope. We're seeing a lot of that in our country right now and it's freezing our ability to cope with the realities around us. The fears are so large that many are unable to grasp reality at all.
Yes, there are deadly spiders but spiders are not lining up at the border ready to take over the country.
The airplane you are boarding is likely much safer than the car you are driving.
Snipers are not hiding behind trees in your neighborhood.
Transgender people are not lurking in your bathroom waiting to hurt you.
Marriage equality is not going to be the cause of your divorce and it won't destroy your family unless you create cause.
Change is hard. Give yourself a little time to accurately assess the situation. Base your decisions on factual information and not imagination. Take a few steps to learn something new.
Yes there are spiders that are deadly. Yes, planes sometimes crash. Yes, there are snipers in the world. Who do you know that has been killed by a spider, been in a plane crash or been victim of a sniper? That might tell you something, if you think about it.
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