When I saw the flashing blue and red lights behind me, I almost shat my pants.  “Shat…” is that a word?  I was 16 years old and when he came swaggering up to my window, I felt the same sensation as if I had just asked out a hot girl and was waiting eagerly for her response.  Is she gonna say yes or no?  Is he gonna give me a ticket or let me go?

For a wimpy kid like me, I was most scared of two types of people, authority figures and attractive women. As time went on, I increased my inner confidence and eventually got the women thing handled, but up until recently when I got pulled over for speeding, I had completely forgot about my fear of the police. That same feeling wrenched through my body and it quickly reminded me how freaking scared I was.  After the incident, I realized that if I’m that scared around cops, it’s a sign that I need to make a change and learn how to keep my cool and handle those scary situations better.  I made it a habit to start engaging police officers any chance I got…

Last month I was approaching a red light and I noticed a cop waiting on foot to write people tickets.  I pulled up next to where he was standing on the curb and rolled down my window. “You looking for people on their cell phone?” I asked.  “Anything I see,” he responded in a pissed off tone.  “You need any help?” I said.  “No, im good thanks.” he said.

Seems like a pretty worthless interaction right?  Well, that was actually a big step for me.  I was scared to talk to him at the time.

This scenario happened late one night…

My girlfriend an I were about to J Walk when I spotted two cops getting out of their car.  They got out and J Walked right across the street to the Mexican restaurant we were headed to.  “If they can do it, we can do it too” I told her.  As we were crossing behind them, Allison said “baby, what if they give us a ticket.”  One of the cops turned around and said “I’m gonna give you a ticket.”  I quickly replied “I’m gonna give YOU a ticket.” We had a good laugh.

One more scenario.  Last Thursday I was driving late at night and speeding as usual.  Without realizing, I blew right past a cop without noticing him.  When I stopped at a light a car pulled up next to me.  I didn’t even notice the car until a bright white light beamed through my passenger window.  I rolled down my window and said “Hey, what’s up?”  “What, you blow past me and then you pretend like I’m not even here?  Is that how you roll?” he says.  I replied “HAHA, I didn’t even see you, my bad.”  “Well slow your ass down!” he replies in a pissed off tone and speeds off.  SWEET, got off easy that time.  The interesting thing I noticed about the last interaction was the absence of the gut wrenching sensation that I typically experience in those situations. I was no longer scared!

So what changed?

I learned how to deal with tension around the Po-Po.  When we face our fears head on and deal with them, they quickly dissolve.  So ask yourself, what am I avoiding and how can I start to deal with it?  You can either let fear stop you, or you can have fun and fuck with it.  Try on this motto: Fuck with fear!

Cheers,
Robbie Kramer

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