Being Fearless

Indiana is bracing for record breaking cold and blizzard like conditions. And something about the enormity of the weather has got me thinking about 2014 mantra I've adopted.

For years, I've signed off almost every blog post with BE PASSIONATE. This year, I decided I needed to change it up so I decided on BE BRAVE. It seemed appropriate. I am embarking on a new stage in my life and there will be times I will need to step out of my comfort zone and do things a wanna-be hermit would never do.

So BRAVE made sense. And then I saw this:

And I realized BRAVE isn't enough. I need to be FEARLESS. While I think some of these people might be a little crazy, each and every one of them started with a single flip. And each of them probably slammed into a cliff or broke a bone or endured some other painful experience. But they got up and did it again. And again. And again. Until it wasn't about being brave. It was about not letting fear determine how close to the sun you will soar or the depth you will dive to do the thing that drives you, that excites you. 

We live in a world of fear. Of things we don't know, don't understand. And as a species, we have belittled, conquered and even killed out of fear. And yes, maybe those are the extreme, but I'm a writer and that's how we roll. Perhaps fear has stopped us from reaching out to people because they might not want to be our friends. Maybe fear has kept us from following a job or a boy or doing something else that requires us to open up and be vulnerable. To do something that's a risk. Maybe fear has even made us afraid to be who we really are. 

But fear is all in our head, and yes, for those of you who know me well, I am the pot in this kettle/pot scenario, but if I can conquer my fears, there is nothing to hold me back from taking the life and the time I have been blessed with to new heights. So, my friends, I wish you to BE FEARLESS in whatever it is that moves you. Whether it's base jumping, sending your cherished manuscript out into the world to face the probability of rejection, or letting go of your past so it stops messing up your future, conquer whatever it is that holds you back!