Regain Control

I have begun to realize that most people’s drug of choice is fear, whether they want it to be or not. Fear runs our lives. We make choices about our future, about our present, about what we are going to do, about what pleases us, about who we are going to commit to, about who we are going to talk to, about how we are going live our lives based on fear. We fear being lonely. We fear rejection. We fear being ostracized. We fear failure.

What do we really have to be afraid of? Everyone fails from time to time. Everyone is rejected from time to time (yes, even those doing the rejecting are also rejected from time to time). We should be afraid of not trying, not doing something new, not talking to someone we may find attractive, not grasping hold of what makes us happy, not taking risks, not dreaming big enough, not rocking the boat. We should be afraid of apathy.

Do something, anything to get past this fear. If you can’t speak to strangers, then force yourself to start. If you are afraid of failure, then force yourself to take a chance on something. Start going after what you want, what you need and what is going to make you happy. Grab hold and run with it. To steal a term from poker, go all in. Will you always get what you want? Not a chance. But the more times you try, the more times you will get what you want. Who knows, that stranger may be your soul-mate. The risk you take may just lead to the start of an amazing life. Rocking the boat may lead you to an even bigger and better boat.

Don’t be content with the status quo. Do something to raise the bar, to make things better. Do anything to have some fun with life. Become the person who consciously makes choices and truly decides how you are going to live. Stop allowing fear to make the choices for you. Stop giving fear control of your life. Stop letting fear have any say in your decisions. It’s time to give fear the boot. Start today. Seriously, what do you have to lose?

"Always do what you are afriad to do." --Ralph Waldo Emerson