Absolutely Authentic from A to Z: Fearless

When I was little my fears were fixed on things that looking back now didn't really amount to much.  I am sure you know....spiders, the basement, fear of my stuffed animals coming alive at night.  Okay...that last one might be stretching it, but the fears of my youth were concrete fears.  Fears I could measure.  

As I have grown older though my fears have changed.  I have found that my fears have become less concrete.  My fears began to change in junior high.  I remember the beginning of the fear of not ever fitting in.  The fear that I would never belong anywhere.  That people would never really know who I was.

That fear grew as I got older....

Isn't that what we all fear?  We fear loneliness, rejection, and never being good enough. 

Isn't that what religion is all about?  People trying to find answers to that loss that they feel.  That loss so deep inside of never being good enough.

But isn't fear what drives us to succeed?  Somewhere we overcome all of the misgivings that we have by allowing that fear to lead us down the path to authentic fearlessness.

To me being authentically fearless doesn't mean never having fear.  To me it means grabbing a hold of that fear, and using it to overcome whatever is staring me in the face.

Maybe that means quitting a job that isn't bringing me joy.  Maybe it means saying I'm sorry because I said something in a moment of anger that I didn't mean.  Maybe being authentically fearless means waking up everyday and not allowing the negative things in this world to have power...anger destruction, loss.  Focusing on the positive, focusing on how to love others. Allowing that love to have the power to overcome any kind of fear.   Focusing on living life by being authentically fearless.

Do you think that fear is healthy?  Do you live life authentically fearless?  What does that look like in your life?