Receiving a sickness diagnosis is probably the most dreaded events in your life. It arrives uninvited, unwelcomed & most of the time unexpected. When receiving the news from your doctor apart from the phrase, "I am sorry to inform you...", you often notice a shift in the clinician's energy, darkening the area just like a cloud passing on the meeting. Shock is the most prevalent experience following diagnosis, but after the shock melts away the most typical experience is fear.What is it that we fear? Most people when receiving a chronic or life-threatening illness diagnosis fear dying. The truth is that we all fear dying. You probably don't believe me but stop and think for a moment about your death anxiety prior to the diagnosis. Are you experiencing a will? Are you experiencing life insurance? Are you experiencing a healthcare proxy? That is about preparation which his great, but it's predicated on fear that we will die. The truth is that we are likely to die; the hope is that it's not very soon. When you can see that most of us have death anxiety it makes battling fear easier.Fear is rooted in the unknown. Although you may have friends or family who has experienced a health challenge; it's very different experimentally if it is you who is the patient. The fact of the matter is that we don't don't stop talking about our mortality until someone dies. The idea that death exists is kept at arms length as if it were contagious. It's natural to desire to retreat following your diagnosis, however the easiest way to combat fear is by experiencing it and putting fear in its place.Education is the primary component along the way of eradicating fear. The underpinnings of fear are based on lack of knowledge. Your first reaction to your diagnosis was probably in line with the stories you've heard from others and even though some of them could be true, we all have created urban legends about our experiences, even when it involves illness. Get educated! Don't rely solely on the pamphlets in your doctor's office or the advertisements within most major magazines, depend on the community at this point you belong to predicated on your diagnosis. Find the national advocacy/education/support organization that serves your specific diagnosis. (Keep in mind that some organizations are umbrella organizations encompassing a vast continuum of illnesses)What stories do you have in your mind that correlate to illness? You already have meaning mounted on illness before you've received your diagnosis. It is now time to throw the infant out with the bath water because there isn't any template for illness. The stories you've been told or tell yourself feed the fire of fear. As time progresses so does technology, pharmaceutical research and increased efficacy of allied health professions. Your story does not have to be a copy of those who've come before you. That is your journey to wellness and you also end up being the author, editor and publisher. Utilize the information you acquire to improve your story of health insurance and healing. Use your education to edit out the horror stories and replace them with possible options and alternatives.We're a culture that is afraid of illness yet overwhelmingly we don't take precautions to ward of disease. Is it really a surprise at the amount of people in Western culture that are diagnosed with an illness? The surprise is that it is you and like most folks you thought you were immune to the diagnosis. Fear impedes your curiosity short circuiting your quest for possible solutions to your health challenge. Don't let fear detour you from your destination...health!Beat worries of illness. Get your FREE copy of the special report "The 5 Pillars of Health and Healing". As an additional benefit I'd like to offer you the multimedia program "Instilling Expect Health". Want to benefit from my experience with illness and two decades of dealing with clients who've been diagnosed? Get your FREE report and multimedia program at [1] Check out the new health videos at [2]