A Word on Fear and Discomfort

“I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent.

Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease. It begins in your mind, always ... so you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don't, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.” (Martel 161)

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This is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite books, Life of Pi. So true and yet so sad that we all let fear take hold of us at one point of another. Each fear seems great to those that it affects, yet it may seem small to an outsider looking in. So how do we get comfortable with fear? How do we jump at trying new things?

• We get into the DISCOMFORT ZONE. We need to become OBSESSED with the discomfort zone. Being in this zone is like exercising. The more we experiment with fear and uncomfortableness on a daily basis, the better we get at it.

• We are not meant to become Fearless creatures! If we were, we would all be running into crowded places without a fear of getting coronavirus. We would all be hugging black bears and tigers without fear of harm. The only people that should be fearless are sociopaths and 5 year olds and I don’t think we want to be either of those.

• So no we shouldn’t aim to be FEARLESS - we should be working on FEARING FEAR LESS.

• Every day I want all of us to try being part of a fear experiment. What is that you ask? Well, a fear experiment is getting uncomfortable ON PURPOSE.

"When trying new things you will either WIN or LEARN, but you will never LOSE" -- Judi Holler (Fear is by Homeboy)

*remember that when getting uncomfortable*

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For me? Fly fishing used to make me nervous. Learning new things, change, it all sparks my anxiety...for the good and the bad! But channeling that nervous energy into learning has allowed me to take on a new hobby and I have made it work for me!

• One thing I never liked about fly fishing was being in the rushing waters and feeling like I was slipping all over the place with no control over my feet. Well you know what? I got some new gear that better equipped me and BAM - all of a sudden I was more confident than ever in the water. The sturdiness of my felt boots was all of a sudden making my casting better and allowed me to enjoy the sport more than I ever had. But if I had let the fear of the water, rocks, and not catching any fish hold me back, I wouldn't be at the level I’m at now!

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• This past weekend, we were over at a family friend’s home and we had a crawfish dinner for the first time. Although this fear may seem small, I was nervous I was going to look like an idiot trying to eat these little crustaceans! But you know what, I told myself that this would be a good story at the end of the dinner regardless of whether it turned out to be my favorite food or my least favorite food. I know it sounds corny, but it’s true - YOU NEVER KNOW UNTIL YOU TRY.

• Whether its jumping out of a plane, trying a new food, starting that Blog you have always wanted to start, or unfriending those that promote negativity in your life...the only way you can fail is by INACTION, but if you try you can only ever win or learn for the next time!