Who me? Scared?

Oh c'mon really? You're scared of what? Really? 

Guffaw, guffaw...

I look at this blog and see all the cool things I posted. The photographs, the drawings, the rantings. I look at them now and think, "Hey, this stuff is kind of neat!" So what happened? Why did I not continue. 

Simple... fear.

Fear of what? Sigh. Fear of just about everything my mind could make up and entertain. Fear of:

- Not being perfect

- Being criticized

- People not liking my stuff

- Fear of not finishing what I start

- Being attacked by a horde of Chia Pets 

Hey, one stupid fear is just as stupid as the next, right?

And that's the reality. Our fears are usually -- quite honestly --  harmless scarecrows that scare us. Like little children, we still fear the bumps in the night and the boogeyman. Seems that even though we grow up, we still harbor the fears we had as children. Only now, we're older and supposedly wiser.

Yea, right.

Why do fears hold us back? Better yet, why do we let them? Because when you get right down to it, fears are only as powerful as the strength we give them. And for me, turns out I give them a lot of power. 

And I've let them keep me from being the person I was made to be. "Be who you are and be that well," says St. Francis de Sales. Well, that's all fine and dandy, but if you're letting fear control you, then you can't possibly be the who you are.

As the famous saying goes, "Feel the fear and do it anyway." What's the worse that can happen?

- Someone will criticize me

- Someone won't like what I'm doing

- Someone will be mad or upset

- Someone won't want to be my friend

To which I answer... so what?

There are more than 7 billion people on this planet. It is impossible (yes, IMPOSSIBLE) for everyone to like, love, and adore you. But if you have to compromise who you are... if you have to be someone you're not to be liked... if you have to become something you don't recognize in the mirror... then pleasing people is not the game plan.

Today, I think I'll please... myself. I'll write and draw and paint. I'll laugh and play and tell the world, "Take a flying leap! If you don't like it, tough."

Fear is just a phony monster we scare ourselves with. Turns out, it is really nothing more than a shadow. It has no teeth, it has no muscle. It is like a mannequin that doesn't take on life unless we give it life. 

Today, I choose to deny life to my fear monster. How about you?