The Fear Never Goes Away

“Fear is not a dragon to be slain once; it’s an ocean to be swum daily.” — Jon Acuff

Here’s the thing about fear.

It’s not something that you one day decide to banish, and then you never have to deal with it again.

Fear is an instinct — a survival instinct that we’re born with, and is born within us, to keep us SAFE. It’s natural to have fear. It keeps us from running into traffic or picking a fight with a grizzly bear.

A lot of us “deal with” our fear — we read books, we go to therapy, we journal. We thank our fear for keeping us safe, and we relegate it to the back seat of the vehicle that is our lives.

But even after doing that, we haven’t “solved the problem of fear”. Because it comes back the next day, and the next. It always comes back, and it always will come back.

You may move from fear of failure to fear of not being good enough, or fear of success or change or the unknown. As long as there is uncertainty in life, our minds will find something to fear.

You don’t ever banish fear for good. You can rationalize or dismiss old ones, but new ones will always crop up. It’s part of being human.

What we need to do is co-exist with the fear. To become more comfortable swimming in the ocean, diving deep, and taking risks.

The good news is that, while we can’t slay fear for once and for all, like a dragon, we can keep moving steadily forward and find joy and fulfillment despite it.

Words & warmth,

Sarah