Some fears you carry were handed to you by your parents. You’re allowed to check whether they still apply.

Some of what frightens you was never yours to begin with. A parent who is nervous about water, debt, strangers or flying passes that on without meaning to, through tone and through the hundred small precautions you grew up inside. You inherited the caution before you had any experience to test it against. That is nobody’s fault and it does not make the fear accurate.

Take one fear and ask whether something actually happened to you, or whether you were taught it. If it was taught, you can test it carefully, in a small way, and see what the evidence says.