Thursday, May 14, 2009

Mastery of fear

Courage is resistance to fear,
mastery of fear —
not absence of fear.
Mark Twain

Scared? Alarmed? Wondering WTF to do next?

Join the crowd. It's all a little overwhelming if you let it.

If. You. Let. It.

Fear is a choice. When I write "refuse to be afraid," I'm not trying to tell you to ignore or deny the existence of the little heeby-jeebies that plague your mind, your heart and your gut. It's more an exhortation to keep moving despite them.

Twain got it right — Courage is acknowledging the paralyzing potential of fear and stepping forward anyway. "Don't be afraid" is in some ways a silly thing to say. We are afraid sometimes. Life is scary. Accept it, digest it, confront it, and refuse to let it dominate you. Free yourself from the fear, and you can start to dream.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous dare2 said...

Thank you. Your post had wonderful timing for me today.

Allowing yourself to be paralyzed is a choice. It can be hard to stay focused, but it is easier when you are able to recognize the fear as what it is. See it, analyze it, learn from it, and move on.

refuse to be afraid - dare to be free

9:01 PM  

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