Essay Conquering fear By Caroline Pover	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
恐れを克服することの大切さ 先日、日本で働く外国人女性をサポートする団体、"Foreign Executive Women" の主催するセミナーが開かれました。 テーマの一つとして取り上げられたのは、変化を妨げてしまう「恐れ」という感情です。 今回基調講演を行ったポーヴァーさんにとっても一番興味深い概念だったという「恐れ」は、幼いころからの私たちの人生にどんな影響を与えているのでしょうか？

I was recently the keynote speaker at an amazing all-day event organized by and for foreign women in Japan

There is an organization in Japan called Foreign Executive Women (or "FEW" for short) that provides professional support to foreign women in Japan. FEW was founded in 1981 by two foreign women wishing to gain professional support from each other. It now has over 250 members and holds monthly speaker events as well as social events throughout the year. Its biggest event is its Career Strategies Seminar, held once every 18 months, with over 100 foreign women attending. This is the third time I have been the keynote speaker at this event, and every year it seems to get better and better.

Each year the seminar has a theme: This year the theme was a combination of two issues. The first issue was about identifying fears that we have about changing aspects of our lives and finding ways to deal with that fear. The second issue was about taking conscious steps to determine our own future and work toward our professional dreams

Fear was the most interesting concept to me. From a very young age I think we are taught to let fear rule a lot of our lives. That fear often prevents us from taking risks to change our lives, and change can be a great way for us to find out our true potential

For example, as children we are often taught to fear our parents: Our parents decide what is right and wrong. They reward us if we do something that they decide is "right" and punish us when we do something that they decide is "wrong." Many parents say that their children "cannot be told what to do." This is often used as a criticism of a child when he or she is showing signs of independent thought and action. These children are already their own person and have already made up their own mind about what is right or wrong.

When we start going to school, we are again in a situation where fear is encouraged. We are taught to respect but also to fear our teachers: I remember being quite terrified of some of my teachers! I didn't really do anything too naughty when I was at school, but I was still, somehow, often worried that a teacher would think I was doing something bad. At school, we are often afraid of not passing exams, or afraid of getting a bad report, which may then affect our chances to get into university, which may then affect our chances to get a good job. We are taught to believe that our entire lives depend on what happens during that very short time between the ages of 12 and 18. In reality, of course, we can study for anything throughout our whole lives. We can change careers if we really want to, and we can go to university at any age.

So all this fear that is encouraged in us as children can affect our ability to take risks as adults. Many people are unhappy in their job but afraid to change. Many people are unhappy in their relationships but are afraid to change.

Events like the FEW Career Strategies Seminar go a long way in helping people overcome their fears and changing their lives. Just walking into a room in Japan with over 100 foreign women, all enthusiastic to find out how they can improve their work lives, is an extremely powerful thing!

Shukan ST: May 5, 2006

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