There is nothing to fear, but fear?

I have an incredibly busy day ahead, but instead of rushing, I am taking time to sit and digest an apple and some new information.

During last night's reading frenzy, I read for a couple of women who are having some tough times. One of the things we talked about was that one of them keeps getting more responsibility at work but no promotions and certainly no additional pay. This has been going on for years and she won't do anything about it (she is nervous that they will just fire her).

So, my question is: how do we deal with that? How do we deal with the fear that if we stand up for ourselves and demand appropriate treatment/compensation that they will just say, "well that's too bad. We'll just go find someone else to do the job."

Personally, I have stood up for myself despite the fear that it might cost me my job (and sometimes it has) and friends (and sometimes it has). And I have never regretted those choices. Again, personally, I much prefer to jump out on that limb and demand to be treated right than to sit tight in a shell and stress and cry and rage in silence.

But the question remains, if we live in such uncertain times, how do we get over/release the fear of standing up for ourselves? I've done it because not standing up for myself is harder on me and my internal state/psyche so I'm not sure it's a matter of choice.

What do you do? How do you overcome those fears?

I will add to this post or perhaps do more on this because the topic fascinates me. From the time we are mobile as babies, we hear messages that we ought to be afraid of strangers, electrical outlets, glass, the items under the kitchen sink, etc. We learn that many things are dangerous and most of us stay away from them. But what does it do to us as adults when that paradigm of fear is instilled in us so young?

How does that history affect who we are and how we behave when we can discern the dangers and make our own decisions?