Build character, overcome fear

I've had this philosophy lately to give up my fear. It first started in my twenties when I served as a missionary in Switzerland and France, talking to people about their deepest fears, their hopes and dreams for the future. The President of my mission said to me, "Get rid of your stress, worry, anxiety and fear; those will keep you back." Up to that point I'd always seen stress or worry as a form of mental energy progressing me to a solution, but in reality, it was exhausting me and paralyzing me.

Ten years ago, I decided to put away my fears. My fears of never becoming a writer, my fear that I would never be good enough to publish, my fear of not getting out all these wonderful stories I had tucked inside my heart. My husband told me to sit down and write something.

So I did. I had this scene in my head about a girl who got poison ivy because I had just been through a rash of it. And she was a young girl, and I found out that beer can help offset the affects of the oil because of the alcohol. I imagined this funny scene where she's out with some friends and she gets poison ivy and her friend dumps beer all over her and she comes home reeking of Corona. Her mom of course grounds her. Anyway, you get the idea. My husband thought it was good and encouraged me to keep going.

Writing is scary. It's creating something from nothing but the ideas floating around in your brain. Every day I face a blank page.

But writing isn't the only scary thing I do. This idea of facing fears has bled over to our family vacations. Seven years ago, I went SCUBA diving for the first time. I was so nervous, I almost couldn't go under. A few years ago, we went on a rope course over a huge canyon. I went skiing for the first time in my life earlier this year.

If you really want to live, do something scary. You will overcome a fear, build character and create something.

What fears have you overcome?