I don’t believe that “fearless” actually exists but I recognize that some people have more fears than others.
When I share with people that I am about to embark on a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail the most repeated comments are questions about fearing bears and snakes, fearing that I might get hurt or fearing that I might not make it. I don’t fear any of those, the only fear I have is the possibility of encountering the wrong person along the way. Of course, this could happen anywhere on any day so this is a fear I have already learned to deal with.
Outside of this hike, I think one of my biggest fears is simple being stagnant or complacent. I fear not living more than I fear dying.
The majority of bears and snakes are no different than the majority of people. They are good and just trying to do their own thing. If you aren’t harming them, they won’t harm you. I have certainly encountered more than enough failures to have long ago conquered any fears of that. Again, the fear of not trying far outweighs the fear of it not working out.
Parallel to the fear of failure I believe is the fear of embarrassment or ridicule. This one used to be a big one for me. I wasted a lot of energy over the years trying to satisfy other’s expectations of me. It took me far too many years that the path I wanted wasn’t the path that society wanted for me, that doing things outside of the norms wasn’t accepting by many and that many of those who didn’t understand me would see “not normal” as failure, weakness, rebellion or just plain crazy.
Don’t let fear hold you back and the next time someone shares their crazy ideas with you, celebrate with them, applaud their creativity and support their independence.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.