Chapter 3: Coping with your fear

What is fear?

I've been there
Bonnie shares her fear of being a burden.(3:22)Video transcript

No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.

 –C.S. Lewis

Fear and anxiety include a range of feelings:

  • A sense of unease or edginess
  • Worry and concern
  • Panic and terror
Fear can take many forms. It can undermine your confidence - to manage finances, for example, or to leave the house by yourself or sleep alone. You may have feelings of anxiety and fear that are not about anything specific. You might worry constantly about "something bad," that you cannot name, happening in the future.

Extreme fear and anxiety

Some people experience extreme fear and anxiety:

  • Fear that they cannot cope with life alone and that their grief will destroy them.
  • Fear of further losses such as being abandoned or of other people dying.
  • Fear they themselves may die.