I'm So Scared!!

"Life opens up OPPORTUNITIES to you, and you either take them or you stay afraid of taking them." - Jim Carrey

The human mind is a fascinating place. The command center. Command and control. HQ. It is the mechanism that makes us who we are, who we aren't, who we want to be and don't want to be. It houses and hosts our emotions that make us, us. The complexity of it blows me away. I'm not a neurosurgeon, nor am I a behavioral studies professional, not a psychologist or a psychiatrist.

I did take Psych 101 in college, so that puts me a step above most of you. Just saying.

Starting with my boy Patton there at the top; this dude is an entire Bible's worth of quotes about fear, about being a bad-ass, about being a solider, a warrior, a gosh darn man, MAN! I love it! This quote gets me going, gets me psyched up - as I served my country - I would have loved to serve for this man.

But the foundation to all of these 'hoorah' books, self-helps and quotes is simple; bravery is not absent of fear, bravery and/or courage is born of fear and they are like peas and carrots - they simply go together. The action of bravery is often correlated with the battlefield, the war zone of another country in some great battle. Obviously, this extreme provides for the best stories of bravery that moves us, motivates us, gives us all the tingles that make us wonder, "could I do that?" "Would I be able to stand up and fight knowing the outcome could be death?"

This is not the form of fear that I am speaking of in this post. No, I must admit, as I started working on this post something occurred to me that I feel I've known for a very long time; I LOVE the feeling of discomfort that comes from fear. I cherish the rush. I almost need it - this addiction spawns from a simple truth; in those greatest moments of discomfort, through fear, comes our greatest ability to expand.

Too often we are guilty of running from this, we cower at it in ways that is hard to even comprehend. In our greatest moments, we flee. The irony in this is astounding, because in these moments is when we feel the most alive! Life is coursing through our veins and the moment is ours. Every fiber of our being is pulsating to the rhythmic sways of life's energy that's encapsulating us in that still frame of our life. It's life's orgasm and we are flinching, cowering and turning away from it for the norm, for comfort, for easy street.

WHY? Because. WE. ARE. SCARED.

What's common in ones inability to take action from those that risk is simply their view point of that action.

I have many a friend that have clamored for years about wanting to move out of our home town. Want to move out of our home state. But, in twenty-one years since graduation, they have yet to find their way out. There is always something that holds them to their place. Don't get me wrong, if one's true contentment in their life is building theirs in the same community they were born in...... More power to you! That is a different philosophy and mindset all together.

What I'm talking about is the want to make a change, the want for excitement in their lives and to be free from conformity and routine. But these same friends, they're still there and they are rooted now. So many opportunities have come and went while they found every reason for why they shouldn't take them. Why? What is this driving force behind inaction and feeling comfortable in regularity or mediocrity?

It takes big ole balls, metaphorically speaking! You have to have courage. You have to be brave to take risk. The view from this is not one of what could go wrong, but how the hell is this thing going to feel WHEN it goes right?? That is how I perceive changes in my world. Sure, I calculate the risk, but damn it, when there's an opportunity to make a change in my life - I can promise you, all I see is the checkered flag. The trophies. The money. The happiness it brings my family and to me.

So fear of the opposite is simply an illusion. The illusion a lot of risk takers look at in the onset is one of positivity or accomplishment. The one that never strives, never succeeds, never fails and is never fully happy... Well, his/her illusion is of the loss, the embarrassment, the failure that could come from a decision. They are too afraid to embrace that fear and find the bravery on the other side of it. To find the success or happiness or achievement on the other side of the risk.

Jack Canfield said, "Everything you want is on the other side of fear...."

If this is true, then this means that your greatest happiness, your greatest fulfillment and your greatest opportunity to be alive is only achievable through doing the things that scare the absolute shit out of you. So why the hell not? We, for the most of us, live with an underlining fear most of the days of our lives, just from the sheer joy of being an adult, right? We have to worry about bills, we have to worry about our jobs, we have to worry about our health, we have to worry about our children's health, grades, sporting events, our faith and eternity, etc.. Worry is like the ugly duckling to the fear family. It's the kerosene to the fear fire.

I bet you that you won't go out and do something today that scares you, just a little. That little bit of fear that makes your hairs on the back of your neck stand up, your nipples poke through your shirt and your face tingle as you do it. I bet you won't! If you do and you follow me on Instagram, post it. I'll have a post in my story for you to comment on.

I hope that you will. For me, if you're wondering, each day I post to this blog and I put a video or a post on Instagram about what I've written - it scares me a bit. I'm being raw. I'm being open - open to criticism from friends, family and perfect strangers for my view points. It's getting easier to not be concerned or afraid of that, but it was and is still a bit of a fear for me.

So what is that thing, on the other side of your own fear, that is waiting for you?

J.L. Copeland