Well, I've had the flu for a few days.  I don't get sick that often, but whenever I do, I try to find ways to slow down in my life.  Usually the mad pace has much more to do with procrastination than actual busy-ness.  I think...  I work in various capacities probably 60 hours a week, and while this is much more than I'd like, it's not the insane hours many doctors and others keep.  Comparisons aside, it feels like too many hours for me, so perhaps that's the point.

So, this particular cold/flu/whatever entailed a bit of DayQuil/NyQuil and the occasional decongestant.  I always take less than I think I need, in some attempt to strengthen my immune system.  Oh, and loads of vitC-heavy cough drops!  As much as I detest the taste of liquid medicine, I fear pills.  One morning in February of 2005, I needed a decongestant (maybe even for a cold?) and so I took one (not a tiny one), but it got stuck in my throat.  I could still manage thin wheezing for breath.  I lived alone at the time, so I tried to calm myself down by playing my piano as the pill dissolved in my throat.  I reasoned that if my stress level was high, I was probably clenching the very muscles I needed to release anyway.  It ended up taking 45 minutes for the pill to dissolve enough for me to drink some water.  Ever since that day, I haven't taken any pills larger than a tiny red decongestant without first crushing them in my pill crusher. 

So now, I have a (probably) irrational fear of taking pills.  What to do about it?  Thus far, I've done nothing.  But as I study yoga more and more, I want to face my fears.  For example, I did a cannonball in a pool in August (I also can't swim - with the exception of floating on my back).   I heard once that fear is False Evidence of Apparent Reality.  That's an interesting way to look at it.  It's all a matter of perspective.

So what, dear reader, are you afraid of?  Or, what fears have you overcome by virtue of this glorious yoga practice?