I used to think I wasn’t afraid of anything.
Except tornadoes and house fires. And snakes.
But it turns out that I’m afraid of just about everything.

Failing.
Being lonely.
Being with people (sometimes. Depends on the situation).
Being wrong.
Being annoying. (Oops.)
Being rejected.
Being unwanted.

Fear is powerful. It is strong. It is the unknown Horcrux living inside my very being. Fear screams over the fierce whispers of truth, “You’re not enough. You can’t do that, people will tell you no. They will criticize you, they’ll tell you all the ways you will fail, or all the ways you’re not good enough”. “stop trying. It’s not worth it. Give up.”

Truth says, “You don’t have to be “enough”. There is no “enough”. “So what that you failed? Get up, and try again, but better. Don’t stop. Keep going. Keep learning. Keep growing.”

. . .

In the movie, Steel Magnolias, Sally Field says something to the effect of knowing the right things, but wishing her brain would tell it to her heart. My brain knows the truth. My mind knows what is right. But somewhere along the way to my heart, the message became warped — kind of the like the game “Telephone”. And that’s how I’ve been living lately — listening to  a grossly distorted message of truth and fear. Well, that ends now. The thing about the unknown Horcrux is that its power was great as long as it was unacknowledged. To be defeated, it had to be acknowledged. Then, and only then, could one surrender to it. Not surrender so much as give oneself over to, but surrender in that its power was recognized. From that surrender came the strength to defeat it.

Life is not for the faint of heart.
Peace be the journey.