Little Fears: Uproot Them

If you’re anything like me, there are countless little fears that can so often guide our lives.

They sprout up like weeds.

They pop up here and there, somewhere in the back of our brains. They don’t even look like fears, planted in the fertile, impressionable grounds of our minds.

They control us in little ways. It’s easy to let them go by undetected without giving them another look.

But they spread their roots and prompt us to take certain actions (or inaction entirely).

Like changing the route I take while walking in the office, deciding not to get a drink of water in the lunchroom because I don’t feel like talking to anybody today.

Or putting off going to the gym because of the discomfort I know I’ll be putting myself through.

Or not having that important conversation with my good friend even though I know it’s wholly necessary.

Really, these little weeds come in all shapes and sizes.

In the best of cases they merely slow our lives down. In the worst, they paralyze us.

They camouflage themselves as totally justifiable, healthy-looking plants, but all they’re doing are sucking the life out of budding plants that could otherwise be in full bloom.

Oftentimes, we leave them be, and allow them to grow larger and to reach further and further into other parts of our lives.

But like any weed, these little fears need to be uprooted.

They need to be pulled up and extracted.

We need to find the little green leaves sticking out of the ground, grab a hold of them, and give them a mighty upwards yank.

Right out of the ground, making sure we get every last bit of the root.

But don’t let them off that easy.

Once they’re uprooted, they need to be examined.

They need to be scrutinized to their last little particle so you know exactly what each one looks like.

On the surface, each one will look uniquely different than the others, but if you look even deeper into each one’s makeup, you’ll find they all share the same, debilitating characteristics.

The ability to choke out dreams. To freeze you. To cover up and grow over the glowing parts in you; the parts of you that NEED TO BE fully expressed for the sake of others.

So these weeds have been pulled up and fully extracted, and you’re holding them in the palm of your hand.

Now they need to be tossed away.

I usually just toss mine off somewhere to the side and just forget about them.

But you know what? I think I’m gonna toss this next one off far. Like, really, really far.

Like, past the 100 yard marker. John Elway style.

Touchdown.