Don't give in to fear

I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer.Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.I will face my fear.I will permit it to pass over me and through me.And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

— The Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, from Dune

 Time and again, I feel this litany going through my mind.It's easy to fear. Too easy. It's hard to face that fear, and harder still to let it pass over and through you.It's easy to give in to the fear. To stay in your comfortable room, to hope that whatever is scaring you will go away. To eat or drink your feelings. To push others away because they don't fear the same thing or because you fear them.It's hard to get out of your fear bubble. We don't like to do things that are hard. We prefer to do what's comfortable and easy. Which is natural, I suppose. But we don't really succeed when we steer away from things that are difficult and scary. We succeed the most when we face those fears and we tell them they won't rule us.I've been laid off three times in my life. Every time, it was scary. What if I couldn't get a new job? How would I support my family? How how how?I could have laid in bed for days on end, refusing to face my fears. The first time, I allowed myself a day of self-pity. But then I got up and faced those fears head-on, and built an entirely new career out of nothing. I could have gone the easy route and tried to get another journalism job, but I faced my fears and I did what I needed to do.I see people around me who face health problems that I think would make me give up. But they don't give in to that fear - they fight because the alternative is not acceptable.I see people who wake up with fear every day, but push through it to fight for what's just and what's right. Many of them could give in to those fears and go on with their lives and it would be easy for them. That's not good enough for them; they know that if they do not fight, they bear responsibility for what happens.I see others who have lived with fear their whole lives, but stand with their backs straight as ramrods, knowing that to give in to the fear means a life spent hiding and smiling while others wish - and do - them harm.Fear is the little-death.Photo by amboo who? via Flickr Creative Commons.