Fear is a
powerful emotion. It can’t stop you in your tracks or sending you fleeing in
the other direction. It can also keep
you from doing something stupid. The trick is to recognize when fear is holding
you back and use it to push you forward.
I was not an
adventurous child. I think I became aware of consequences too young and was
forever shying away from activities that were potentially painful. Bike riding,
tree climbing, jumping off the high dive at the pool – these were all
activities that frightened me. Had I ever fallen out of a tree – no, but
something told me it would hurt if I did. When approaching the high dive I
could only think about what would happen if I miscalculated and hit the side of
the pool.
Yep, I was a
weird kid and probably a pretty boring one. I prized comfort, safety and
routine. Most of my days were spent reading about adventures, not living them.
I would build elaborate stories in my head about all the things I would do
“someday”. But fear was always there, holding me in place. It was a constant barrier between me and what
I wanted to do.
I was 24 and
having a conversation with my mother when it hit me, I could live the rest of
my life saying “I wish I had…..” or I could use the fear to push me forward. I
needed to be more afraid of living a life of regrets than I was of a possible
bad outcome. In other words, wouldn’t it be worse to come to the end my life with
a list of things I would have liked to have done than to end it with a few
failures? So I made a promise to myself to live a life without the limits of
fear, a life without regrets.
As an adult,
I have jumped off a 60 foot waterfall in Hawaii, learned to swim properly so I could take
a surf lesson, traveled internationally by myself several times, and gotten a
tattoo (three in fact). And on this day 13 years ago, I packed everything I
owned into my Hyundai Accent and moved to Los Angeles. My life is now one of
adventure and not just dreams of adventure. Don’t get me wrong, the fear is
still there but now it is a quiet whisper that is mostly drowned out by courage,
stubbornness, and encouragement from my wonderful friends.
Is fear holding you back? Is there a list of things you want to do but are too afraid?
Is fear holding you back? Is there a list of things you want to do but are too afraid?
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