The greatest fear is fear itself

Fear.  Just the taste of that word in my mouth causes me to grimace with the bitterness it leaves behind.  I believe fear is at the very root of all our negative emotions.  Fear of failure, fear of others' bad impressions of us, fear of the unknown...

What would this world be like if all our fears were removed in one fell swoop?   Imagine that possibility.   I'd like to think we'd get rid of so much in this world that poisons us - racism, discrimination, violence...

Its so easy to give in to fear and let it rule us.  I personally have had a lifelong fear of failure.  I haven't regularly reached for the half court shots when the lay up opportunity existed.  One of the post-divorce lessons I am most grateful to have learned is to not be AFRAID of FEAR.  I don't mean to say I'm not afraid.  I've been more afraid since January than during any other time of my life, hands down.   Afraid I wouldn't be able to survive on my own, financially... emotionally...  That I'd fail my kids, who are counting on me and needing me to be there for them more than ever before...

But you know what?

Every day I get up and I face those fears.  Some days I faced them like a kitten, where getting out of bed itself I considered a win over fear.  But more often now, I face them like a lioness and I roar in the face of FEAR.   And by facing them over and over AND OVER again, fear has begun to lose its power over me.  Facing fear and learning to eliminate its control over you I'm convinced is a habit.  Like flossing or exercise....  If you pick just one thing tomorrow and face it, and the next day another one?  Its like adding a snowflake to a snowflake, to get a snowball that quickly becomes an avalanche.  This choice, and yes its a choice, to stop letting fear rule me, is the reason behind my tattoo, love over fear.  I trust that God will guide my path and will give me courage enough to face the fear of the road less traveled.  Only by being open and willing to all opportunities will I become my greatest self, the person He designed me to be.

I challenge you to pick one small thing you are afraid of this week and just do it.  Rip off that band aid.  You will see that the only thing to fear is fear itself.  And as you continue to practice facing fear, its power over you becomes smaller each time.

What would you do differently tomorrow if your fears were gone?

1. The Road Not Taken ~Robert Frost
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.	20