Fear

Fear... something everyone has faced at some point in their life. The first memory I have of being afraid was when I was 4 years old in Korea and I fell down a flight of stairs as my brother and I were playing... more like fighting and wrestling.

Step after step, I remember feeling a loss of control as I continued to get pummeled by the cobble stone. And as I finally slowed and stopped at the bottom of the flight, I felt excited that the soft, dirt ground cushioned my fall. But in hindsight, I interpret that as regaining my sense of control. I could reclaim my balance and stand up only to run home crying with scraped knees and a bloody nose.

It's funny that in the moment, instances and emotions seem a hundred times taller than they really are. At times, I wish that that staircase was the only thing I had to face that made me afraid. But as years go by and I learn from each trial and tribulation, falling down a staircase is the least of my concerns. Seems effortless in fact.

Work... family... friends... relationships... it all makes me afraid. Afraid to fail... afraid to succeed only to climb another step and face the fear of failure again.

But being able to harness that fear, and face life is what makes us stronger individuals. Fear is something we can't dismiss out of our lives, but instead something that enables us to take risks. To live with passion... to reveal opportunities and experiences that may have never existed had we not taken a chance.

And the chaos that ensues is just another riddle that life throws in our direction... but with each riddle, there are answers. Maybe not the answers we first believed to be true... but in time, it always reveals itself.

"People living deeply have no fear of death." --- Anais Nin