Face Fear and Do It Anyway

Eleanor Roosevelt once said,“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

What is it you think you cannot do? What is it that you have dreamed of but feel incapable of accomplishing? What is it that seems just beyond your reach but may be worth reaching for?

Most of us, if we are totally honest with ourselves, can answer that question. In fact, the difference between living a life of vitality versus one of apathy may come down to this; Are you pursuing the impossible? I don’t mean trying to slam through brick walls just because they are there. I mean are you pursuing something just beyond your reach that you value, that feels meaningful to you, that makes a valued contribution? If not, then your life is unexciting, and dare I be so blunt, dull.

Jeremy Russie, 36, could relate. He was a college English teacher pursuing a PhD and soon realized he was bored. He had been an army paratrooper a few years earlier and missed the adrenalin rush. He wanted to do something that excited him, something that plucked his interest and challenged his talents. He dropped out of the PhD program and leapt into an 18-month registered nurses degree. Soon after he was hired to work in a pediatric cardiac unit. He has been happy ever since.

All of us need to be challenged and challenges come from two places: within or without. They come in one of two ways: voluntarily or involuntarily. To create a vital life, one filled with vigor and joy, you must voluntarily elicit something important, something daring from within. Challenges may be thrust on you, of course, but if you do not come to terms with it internally, if you do not make it your own and face it your own way, then it does not count. It may strengthen your soul, but it will not fill you with the enlivening energy you need to live a vital life.

So do not wait for something to drop in your lap. Don’t expect your dreams to materialize out of thin air. Why? Because part of building your mental health means proactively creating your life. You ought to choose it. We all need to flex our initiative muscles--to face the fear and do it anyway.

So here’s the fun part. What is it you need to do, regardless of the fear level? Is it a career switch? Maybe you want to serve your community or volunteer somewhere. Do you want to go on a trip overseas, somewhere you’ve never been before? Maybe you want to go back to school and it fills you with terror? Maybe you need to patch up a relationship and shake every time you pick up the phone to apologize. Whatever it is, you gain courage by facing the horror and surviving it. You build strength by looking at your doubts and doing the impossible anyway. You lay the groundwork for meeting future success by pressing on today. Don Miguel Ruiz said that “our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive--the risk to be alive and to express what we really are.”

Choosing to face what we think we cannot do, but must do, means expressing who we are despite the fear, despite the doubt and despite the time and work required to see it through. In doing that, if we are bold enough to do so, we ignite our lives and express who we really are; and that’s a risk worth taking.