One of the topics I tend to write pretty frequently on is fear. I write a lot about fear, because it bothers me just how much fear stops people from being able to live their lives with possibility. I have seen some of the bravest, and strongest people in the world succumb and become immobilized by fear and self-doubt. Fear does not have to cost one more moment of your life, and it does not have to cost you your happiness.
Every day we are given choices in life; we can choose to take the path that may at first look safer, but ends up costing us a lot in the long run. We can also choose to take the risk and learn exactly what we are capable of.
When I set up to move across the country there were, and are for that matter a lot of people who thought I was crazy for giving up my job and completely turning my life upside down. I’ll be honest, even after starting my journey I still have to deal with fear on occasion. I worry that I made a wrong decision, or fear that something might go wrong. The truth is we never know what can happen. We might take risks and they might not work out. When I start to think that maybe it would be better to make the “safer” choice, I think about a favorite patient of mine who was battling a fear that was keeping her locked in her home. She said, “I am tired of staying cooped up in my house all day, because I realize even though I’m trying to protect myself from life on the outside, I’m not living here inside my house.”
The greatest power that any of us have is the power of choice. Every single morning that we wake up we are presented with a choice to follow a life of fear, or to tell fear to move aside and reclaim our happiness and possibilities. The choice is always yours, so why not choose happiness today.
