The Deception of Fear

I had a dream the other night that woke me from my sleep in a slight panic.

In this dream, I was walking and walked to the top of a steep hill to catch the sunset. When it was over, I turned to descend, and the terrain was much different from when I ascended. I was somehow much higher and felt as if I was at the peak of a mountain. Fear can do that to you. It will have you thinking a slight incline is Mount Everest.

Each direction I looked in seemed impossible. The fear of falling had me paralyzed. I envisioned hitting every body part on the edges of the rocks, and I froze. It was getting dark, and I could see other people making their way slowly down the hill with no problem but there I was in my stupid flip-flops, stranded.

I turned around and noticed a path I hadn't noticed before and somehow had the sense to abandon my flip flops, steady myself on the very rocks I thought were going to maim me and make it to the bottom of the hill. The reason I paint this picture is that sometimes our perception is deceptive.

We are often so caught up in the doom and gloom in our heads that we can't see the forest for the trees, or in my case, in my dream, I couldn't see the path amid the rocks. And it isn't until we get out of our heads that we can see things for how they indeed are with a clear lens.

For me, in this dream, all I needed to do was take off the stupid flip flops, brace myself against the rocks and put one foot in front of the other.

I am learning that fear will keep us in a place far from reaching our fullest potential. It will keep us from telling someone how we feel, applying for a job or asking for a raise. It will keep us stagnant, perched on the top of a hill like a spectator far away from living.

We will always find a reason not to make the descent into the unknown, especially if it requires us to take an unfamiliar route in uncharted territory, all while adjusting our perspective. Perhaps the things we see as obstacles are the very thing we need to lean on for leverage.

Oh, and take off those stupid flip flops!

I still can't put my finger on the significance of the flip flops, but maybe they symbolize the people in our lives that want to keep us stuck or are waiting for us to trip and fall. You know, they are the ones who plant those seeds of doubt in us and support a limited mindset rather than encouraging us to do better. I don't know but whatever it is, I am sure it's something to ponder, or I wouldn't be up at 4:45 am typing this into my phone in the dark.

In the words of Luvvie Ajayi Jones (pronounced Ah-Jah-yee), "When you choose to let fear keep you in your comfort zone, you might think you're avoiding failure. What you're really doing is choosing failure in advance!"

Be Inspired!

(Photo by Javon Swaby via Pexels)