Fear and Action Don’t Mix

You just have to get back up again

Right around the age of one and a half most kids start to learn how to walk, they have mastered the scooting and crawling phase and so the next step is to start using those wobbly legs. Walking doesn’t happen overnight. There is a lot of falling that takes place as well as finding stable items or people to hold onto. The desire to get up and move is so great that even after falling more than walking most little kids keep trying until one day they have it mastered. The thought of giving up doesn’t even occur to them because what is usually on the other side of the room is reason enough for them to try until they succeed, and as most often happens they then learn to run, then there is no stopping them.

Fear doesn’t set in, until a reason to fear is shown, kids tend to live in a state of “ignorance is bliss”. As they grow they learn what can be harmful and what should be feared. Even when the “fear of the unknown” is present is is actually the fear of not being in control of what is going on, which is a fear that was shown somewhere along the line. What fear ends up being is a heavy chain that weighs you down, but only if you choose to where the chain.

I have learned over the years that living in the state of “ignorance is bliss” has been a very beneficial thing for me. As a vet tech I work in a field where on any given day a cat may decide I am his enemy and bite me, a dog can be so fearful that it lashes out, birds may puncture, or hamsters lash out. If I come to work expecting to get injured all the time I would stop coming to work. I have to make the conscious effort each day to put what could happen to me in the back of my mind so that I can move forward and experience the joy that comes from my job.

A friend of mine was telling me about a conversation she had with her dad. He had made the comment that she just didn’t seem to have any problem trying out new things. She had gone on some great adventures over the years and didn’t seem phases by the risks that some of them had. Her dad was proud of her for trying new things but was in awe that she actually tried some of the activities she tried. When I asked her what she thought about what her dad said she simply stated that with each of those activities there was fear involved but that she wouldn’t let it take over. Choosing to go on the adventure is the easy part, when you have to go through with it, that’s when it takes courage and the willingness to put fear aside and live the life you were meant to live.

It’s been said that hindsight is 20/20. When you look back over the adventures and activities you have done do you say to yourself “Holy crap! I can’t believe I did that!” or do you look back and say “Holy crap, I really wish I would have had the courage to do that?” As a parent I look back at my life so far and I hope that my kids see that I took chances and I took risks because that is what you do in life. You can stay sedentary but there is no growth in that. There is no purpose in that. Making changes, living life is not always easy but that is where the growth comes from. So what are you going to do today? What is something that you have wanted to do but fear has held you back? If you are a parent, what is it that you want your kids to see?

Take the adventure. Jump out of the plane. Learn a new skill. Find a new job. Go against the flow and be the person you want to be. Mistakes will be made, lessons will be learned, there will be hurt involved but these things should not hold you back. Fear is the robber of joy and courage, so choose today to overcome and get back up again. Until next time:

Fear has a hard time coexisting with action. When there’s action, there’s no fear. When there’s fear, there’s no action

Itayi Garande