Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear. – Mark Twain
Fear is not to be feared, it is to embraced. To do so, we must first understand that fear is a natural thing, and typically, if we feel fear about something, it is a good sign that we are exactly on the path that we should be. If we fear failure, that proves that we care about success in that specific area. If we fear being abandoned, it proves to us our need to reach out to others around us, for no one can or should be an island. Fear is a beautiful thing if we allow it to be.
I wanted to write about fear because writing is exactly something I have feared. I shared this story with a gym-goer earlier this week, and I was inspired by the epiphany that recounting the story gave me, for it made me realize how, without fear, I would be no where in life. Last November, when I started Beautiful Body Bistro, I confronted my greatest fear: sharing my writing with others. I have been writing in secret for years, but always been reluctant to share my work, because, well, I am a perfectionist. Sure, I had worked on my book, The Skinny, Sexy Mind: How the French Do It and shared that with literary agents, but sharing daily with unknown readers was a scary thought for me, so scary that I would have rather walked around a busy mall naked. My writing exposes my deepest thoughts, fears, and insecurities — it is me at my most vulnerable state. When I started this blog, I expected nothing and feared that my words would be empty and without impact, but I knew that I needed to conquer this fear dragon if I ever wanted to grow as a writer. I pressed on simply because I knew in my heart that I had too much to say to the world to not share it, no matter how scary it was for me (and still is on certain days).
So, I thank you, all of you who have helped me slaughter my fear through your words of encouragement and feedback. Thanks to you, (all my readers), I can now pursue my words and writing — my greatest passion — to the fullest. You have taught me that fear is a sign of growth, you have taught me courage, and you have impacted the rest of my life with this lesson.
I love the caption on the above photograph: life is like photography – you develop from the negatives. For me, this couldn’t be more true. My words, my messages, and my blog have developed strictly from the negatives in my life. Join me in seeing life this way. It’s time to conquer your own fear dragon and to start developing the dark negatives of your life into beautiful photographs.