[Fear]

Before you start reading this blog there is one requirement. You have to listen to this song while reading, it is the only way you can truly experience what I am trying to get across.. And you have to turn it up LOUD. Alright let's dive in!

Fear.

So many of us live consumed by it. It is paralyzing!

If fear were an animal it would be a python nestled somewhere in the Amazon rainforest. I have had periods in my life where I wasn't sure if I could get up in the morning because it controlled my world. I could not escape it. I would run and run from it or try to roundhouse kick it in the face like Chuck Norris. Those were the options. Run away or completely destroy it. Bam. But somehow neither worked. They both just left me exhausted. And when I did destroy one by Chuck Norris'ing it, another would pop up like that annoying whack-a-mole arcade game. So what to do?

My favorite line in this song is "I learned to dance with the fear that I'd been running from"

I never even thought about dancing with my fear. It just wasn't an option, you see fear was my enemy.. or the small troll under the bridge or Darth Vader... And dancing with Darth Vader would be super awkward, especially slow dancing. HA!

Anyways, the difference between dancing and running is that when you dance you have to engage with your partner. You even begin to understand and predict your partner. You look him/her in the eyes, make strong eye contact.. And smile. "Hello fear. so you are the one I've been running from all these years. You're not all that bad. Matter of fact you make for a great dance partner". I think of my fear as a spicy Latina named Esmeralda. And we always dance to Enrique, no questions asked.

There's something about engaging our fears. When we engage our fears we do not only understand the root of the fear but we also get a glimpse of how powerful we are. We are powerful people! All of us.

This is my challenge to you. Don't try to overcome your fear. Don't try to run from it. Just dance with it. Engage with it. Acknowledge it and see how it moves, sways, learn about it because when you do you learn so much more about yourself. Fear is not the enemy, quitting is the enemy, not trying is the enemy, apathy, giving up, believing that you are not special or a powerful person is the enemy. But you are powerful, you are unique, you are the only "you" there will ever be. And the best in life is yet to come! so get excited!

Now please listen to this song and imagine me playing it on a rusty mini guitar in a small cluttered living room/kitchen in Northern Honduras to the sweetest old lady named Dona Tina and her son named Kevin. This happened. You're welcome.

May your love be strong,

Joey