Who’s sponsoring the message in your head?

Sometimes when I want to watch a TV show that isn’t currently on any of the platforms I subscribe to, I get lucky and find it available for free on a network’s website. The price, of course, is that I have to put up with commercials. When this happens, I dig back into the past and pull out my commercial survival skills. I turn down the volume and go do something else until the commercial is over. Sometimes I leave the room to do this. Other times, I grab something to scan or read. I’m always aware of the commercial. I can hear the sound of it but not the actual words. It becomes more of a drone than a message. It occurs to me that sometimes when our fears offer us another worn out what-if story, it can be helpful do the same thing. We can say something to ourselves such as: “Oh yeah, this is a message from Fear of Failure (or maybe No One Cares About Me). I know that their jingle will get stuck in my head if I listen to it. I’ve decided I don’t need what they’re selling.” You get the idea. We can remind ourselves that we don’t want to be fear’s customer. We can figure out what we need to do to feel the fear and then get through it without buying into it.