Some people are afraid of heights. Others could climb a mountain but would panic in a closed space. Some are fine with strangers as long as they remain strangers but they have a fear of intimacy. Some people have a fear of failure and some have a fear of success and some fear both and are almost paralyzed. If you're afraid of Friday the 13th, it only ruins a few days a year but some fears get in the way of every today and tomorrow in ways that impair our lives.
Some fears get in the way more than others.
My fear or reluctance to walk under a ladder doesn't hinder my life much but other fears do. I wonder if part of our introspection during this coming month of Elul could be a turning from our fears which get in the way. Think about what you could do if you could eliminate that fear. Think about how your life could be freer, how you could be happier, how you could grow and how you could become more. When we are afraid, we feel that there are powers greater than ourselves.