Here we are on yet another Sunday evening! I am not sure about all of you but I am definitely excited that Fall is almost here. It is one of the most relaxing and busy (at the same time) months of the year, at least in my family. From apple picking, to Halloween, to carving pumpkins, and everything in between we have a lot of plans and traditions for this time of year. Even with an ongoing pandemic, all of those things can still be done safely. But I did not bring you here to talk about Fall and all that comes with it. What I did want to talk today was about fear, but not in the way you probably think. I talked about fear a few months ago in response to the way people were dealing with this global pandemic, but today I wanted to put a more positive and light-hearted spin on fear.

So how can I possibly talk about something so deep on a lighter level? Well fear can hold us back from so many things in our life that we truly want to do and/or experience. For the longest time I have a huge fear of flying and never wanted to ever step foot on a airplane. In college I took a trip to Florida to go to the Harry Potter section of Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and yes, I actually took a plane there. Had I let my fear of flying fully get in the way I would have never been able to experience that trip! That is just one example of course, but I am sure you can think of plenty of things you are scared to do that just may be holding you back from something big in your life.

One of the biggest examples in my life specifically would be the gym. My fear of the gym is a pretty long story. Back when I was at my heaviest and just started out on my fitness journey I had no intention of ever going to a gym for fear of being judged for being an obese person at the gym. Eventually I overcame that, especially when the at-home workouts were no longer challenging me, and I got my butt to the gym with a buddy (shoutout to Stephanie for finally getting me to take that step) on her guest pass. I eventually ended up with a membership of my own so I could go by myself too. Fast-forward a few years and although I was at the gym, I still had a fear of it in a sense. I would only stick to the cardio machines and never ventured into the other areas. If you have been following this page over the last few years you'll remember that I was then randomly approached by a personal trainer at the gym who then showed me exercises with the sections of the gym I had been too scared to use for all these years. Now I am stronger than ever (my trainer was pretty impressed at how much strength I kept even with the gyms closed for 4 months) and I actually prefer weight training over cardio now. Think of what I would be missing out on if I had let fear completely deter me away from all of this!

Another great example, and one I would almost guarantee everyone has dealt with in some way, would be the fear that comes along with opening up to new people. For many reasons a lot of us have a fear when letting new people into our lives. If I had to guess, I would say this stems from people that have hurt us in our past. Maybe someone you were dating completely broke your heart, blindsided you, or anything that broke your trust with new people just a bit. After going through a breakup it is hard to put yourself out there again and I think sometimes that leads us to push people away that would have loved us unconditionally. Sometimes we are lucky enough to have someone that is patient and kind enough to wait for you to get past all that. But regardless isn't life about taking risks and living life to the fullest? If we constantly push people away because of our own fears where does that leave us in the end? Do not let the fear that someone else instilled into you push someone that will love you away.

Overall I think fear can have a lot of factors in our life that causes us to not be living the life we want. Now I am not saying to go out and do something reckless like bungee jumping or sky diving or anything like that, but what I am saying it to not let fear hold you back from the beautiful things in life. We do not find love without a little heartache. We cannot truly reach our fitness goals if we don't push ourselves a little harder than we normally would. I wouldn't have poetry published in multiple places now if I had let my fear of rejection held me back. It is so easy to live life in the easy, non-problematic way, but are you truly getting what you want out of life that way? Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy! (10 points to anyone who gets that reference!) As long as you are not hurting anyone or yourself, there is no need to let fear hold you back!