There’s something about a doomsday prediction that brings out the best and worst in people. Fear mongering at its greatest I suppose.

I saw an article on an American news programme last night about the sudden rush to buy safe bunkers for families and I couldn’t help but wonder “what’s the point of buying one today, it’s hardly going to be ready in time is it?”

I’ve lost count of the amount of the “it’s the end of the world” nonsense that’s occurred since I was born. Most recently we had that radio pastor in California who set the world a-flame with the end of the world occurring in May last year, only to have the world still here and an announcement his maths was wrong, or he’d forgotten to carry the one or something and it was supposed to be in October instead. That the world kept spinning up to today proves he must have forgotten to carry another one, or maybe a two.

I don’t like fear mongering. I think it’s counter-productive. If the world blows up or the angels arrive towing golden chariots to escort us all to the after life or not is something we don’t need to know. If it happens, it will happen and no-one can predict it, or change it.

I believe the Mayan Apocalypse is a spiritual movement more than anything else. The end of an age and the dawning of a new one. I believe that organisations such as NASA having to release a press statement saying there is nothing coming to blow us up is a sign of hysteria. How can people allow themselves to be so caught up in fear, that schools have been closed today so children can spend time with their families?

I read an article about that today in the paper. Schools in some places in the US have been closed in case the world ends.

I believe – and I hope – that this is simply a energy movement. I don’t believe the world will blow up or that Godzilla will appear out of  Sydney Harbour and start laying waste to the world.

As humans, who have so much beauty and love to give, ye we spend so much time afraid. Afraid of change, afraid of what we can not control. Afraid of tomorrow and the day after. So many of us live in fear and yet for the most part, much of the fear we carry is baseless and without true chance of entering our lives.

I wish for a world where people lived in love, not fear. I’ve lived so much of my life in fear. When I was younger I feared my parents would leave me and I would be alone. I feared going to school because every day was torture. Every moment tainted by the hatred of others for something I first didn’t understand, and then couldn’t change no matter how I tried.

I feared going to work because then more people would hate me, and I feared the friends I made when I did go to work because obviously they’d find out about me and then I’d be alone again. I feared never being honest about myself, or being able to explain correctly who I was, was not what I was.

I feared being alone, I feared being successful, I feared being noticed or in the spotlight for any reason. Attention is something I spent many years fearing. I feared trusting others, and being proven wrong.

It took many years and a lot of work to understand the fear I set as the foundation of my life. I understand how it happened. I understand not why it happened, but how I let it spiral out of control.

I understand what is like to live in fear. I understand how scary it can be to try and live a life centred in the fact that regardless of other people’s opinions you are only what you create.

I didn’t create the initial situations that bred the fear, but I did continue to feed the fear long after those situations were history. I continued to live a life that was powered by avoidance. Whenever I successfully achieved a goal I subconsciously caused it to explode long before it was noticed by others.

Regardless of the avenue in life the success came from, I infected it with fear. None of the fears, the worse case scenario’s ever came to being. None of them have ever made it into the reality of life. But they haunted my mind, continued to torture me long after the original words were forgotten by those who said them.

In the past few years my life has become a journey out of fear. It has been a hard road. One that has led to many situations where I’ve fallen flat on my face, scratched my knees and slipped off the cliff. But for all that, it’s a journey I can look at now and think “Every bruise, every step along the way has been worth it.”

Would I change it if I could? I’d change the time frame without a second thought. I’d change the amount of time it took me to get off my arse and get moving. But no, I wouldn’t change the doing.

One of the greatest steps forward was undertaking The Artists Way. I had hoped it would help me to unlock my writing again. I hadn’t realised the great adventure it would be. I hadn’t realised how different my life would become in just a few short months. I hadn’t realised the growth I would go through, nor the confidence I would begin to feel.

The world ends every day, and begins a fresh every day. We are the ones who carry the seed of fear, the seed of the end and the seed of renewal in our hearts and souls.

I made a comment to a friend of mine the other day when I was invited out to celebrate New Years Eve. I don’t celebrate New Years Eve outside of my home. There’s too many people. Getting home is a nightmare and frankly the idea of being surrounded by a bunch of drunks does nothing for me. I celebrate New Years Eve at home. I relax, I watch TV, and at Midnight I watch “You Can’t Stop The Music” which Channel 9 has played at Midnight every year for the past five or six years.

When invited for a late night picnic on New Years Eve I told my friend “I mean to end 2012 the way I mean to live 2013. Writing. And I meant that.

There are so many opportunities to let fear control us. I aim to start 2013 with confidence. I will start the New Year sober for the first time in 20 years. I will start the New Year refreshed, rested and ready to take this journey to the next step.

I guess the point to this post is that we don’t need an apocalypse or another end of the world scare to make us realise what is important to us. We should take the time every day to realise what is important. To tell those we love they are special to us. To release the fears we carry and to make better and healthier choices.

On December 22nd 2012 the world will continue to spin. The people on it will go into a mad rush to prepare for Christmas celebrations. The world will not end, but it’s my hope we will allow ourselves the opportunity to put an end to the fear we carry.

My wish for all of us is that in this new age, we find a moment each day to remember how lucky we all are. My wish is that we all make different, better and healthier choices. Life is too short anyway to sit in fear of the next end of the world scare.