Why We Choose Fear

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great. –Mark Twain

What is the last thing your mother said to you when you were leaving the house? What's the last thing you say to your children? My mother always said and still says: “Be Careful!”

We are brought up and taught to take care because you don’t know what fate has stored around the corner. Because of this we live with a sense of fear looming in the background. We take that fear to our everyday lives and decisions. There’s always the “what if” quotient we have to deal with.

Wow, just think, what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail? Life would be very different, would it not? In high school, would you have asked the prettiest girl on a date? Would you apply for the position that had a responsibility of huge budgets and vast amounts of people? Would you have chosen a career that was more fulfilling and not just safe? Do you have a song still in you waiting to be sung?

Our teachers, preachers and parents have all told us to take the safe route. They love us and don’t want to see us get hurt or lose - although there is nothing to lose. If you think about it, it’s really them. They don’t want to have to deal with you losing or their perception of lose. Some just don’t want you to succeed either. Your success will remind them of their failure or lack of spirit. Some people just want to have control so they tell you that they know people who have tried things and failed or suffered. They breed the fear. Others don’t like change, even if its change in your life. They need to have you categorized and compartmentalized for their convenience.

We rarely are told of the people who took a chance, who took a left turn and succeeded. I love Robert Frost’s quote from the Road Less Traveled. I have taken the one less traveled, and that has made all the difference. I have lived by those words since high school.

Have you ever faced fear and made a decision that surprised even you?