Fear: Life's Opponent

Franklin D Roosevelt was right when he said,

"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."

Sometimes I make myself afraid. Afraid of things where fear should not be present. I let myself replace hope, trust, and confidence with this darn fear. I think what I am very most afraid of is being denied. I figure if I don't try, I didn't fail. Which really, not trying is the biggest failure of all.

So why don't I just go for it? What do I have to lose, right? I can do anything I want with my life. My dreams are mine to gain. . .

A couple weeks ago, a group of us went to the corn maze. It was a weekend night, so it was haunted. I had not been to this corn maze for several years. I think the last time I had been to it, I was probably about 13 or so. I remember being afraid when I went to it before. I mean, not like I was scared to death or anything, but I freaked myself out slightly.

Please tell me that you freak yourself out slightly on occasion too? I won't deny it. There are still times when I will take the garbage out at night, and as I begin walking back, I plant this thought in my head that someone could be watching me. Then I begin walking at a faster pace. Then I begin running. Then not just running, but I'm at a dead sprint, until I am safe inside with all the lights on. I know it is quite ridiculous. But really, fear is nothing but a big ridiculous joke.

But back to the corn maze. . .

Our group set off, deep into the corn. We hit a few dead ends at the first, but after that we were on a roll. We made it through the maze pretty quickly. Faster than I ever remember going through a corn maze. Also, the people that jumped out at us were not very scary. They were actually pretty lame. Like I was starting to get annoyed. I wanted to yell at one of them,

"Scare me! You are doing a lousy job."

It is quite the frustrating thing. When you want to feel scared. It's like the time I watched "The Grudge". I think I laughed through that whole movie. There is nothing scary about some oriental creature that makes a weird moaning sound. I think that sound the Grudge made is the same sound I made when I was bored in the car at about the age of 5. Once Shayla and I sat on a bench on campus and just made that sound for as long as we could. We didn't think it was scary. We were laughing. I can't say the same for the people that walked past us though. They may have been scared, but we were not.

So after the corn maze, I was left asking myself,

"What happened?"

I remembered it being so scary and fun, but now it was honestly a big joke. There is a chance that the corn maze has just gone downhill. Maybe the design wasn't as hard to get through, and maybe the workers are not good at pulling pranks and scaring people (I should work in a corn maze). But I think perhaps, I have just grown up a little and realized that I was the one person creating most of that fear for myself. I worked it up to be bigger and more frightening than it actually was.

So the corn maze wasn't terrifying, but it was still a grand time and we had many laughs. I have some fun friends in my life. . .

This is how most things turn out that we find ourselves at one time fearing. And if we are too afraid to try, later we may find ourselves living with regret. Wondering why we didn't just go for it. Too many people live life with fear and never reach their full potential.

I don't want that for myself.

So Kelsey Keller, snap out of it! Go out there and do everything you were born to do. Because you are very capable. And anything can be accomplished if fear is forgotten, and trust and hope replace it.

Even the fear of death is nothing compared to the fear of not having lived authentically and fully.
-Frances Moore Lappé

I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are.

-Frances Moore Lappé

I am not sure who this Frances Moore Lappe guy is, but he has some awesome quotes. Happy Halloween. And take advantage of the one time of year it's ok to scare yourself out of your skin.