I fear I’m holding back from pursuing the next challenge because I fear being inadequate. I fear being confronted by the idea of not having what it takes to succeed. I fear facing another failure. I fear letting people down because of the emptiness of the rhetoric I sold them on. I fear not being able to handle adversity, and worse, crippling underneath it. I fear missing the mark on the lofty goals I set out to achieve. I fear not winning. I fear losing everything I’ve worked for in pursuit of a win that validates who I am and who I want other people to see me as. I fear that I’m forcing it. I fear that I’m making up the facts to present the reality that fits my current vision. I fear that I’m not enough and that I will depend too much on other people’s opinion. I fear that I will depend on the wrong people. I fear that my fears are unjust because I’m not in danger, I can afford to live a life of comfort, and my fears aren’t important. I fear I will use my potential to achieve things unworthy of that potential. I fear falling short of the goals that are worthy of my potential. I fear not giving myself the opportunity to enjoy the wonders of life. I fear that opportunity will pass me by while I’m having fun. I fear not knowing what I want. I fear people losing trust in me. I fear facing fear alone.

Fear is real. Fear keeps me frozen where I stand. Fear keeps me from making progress. Fear stops me from taking a chance. Fear forces me to stay “safe” even though I’m paralyzed by fear itself. Fear is imprisoning me. Fear is clouding out what would make me happy. Fear is what sits between me and what I truly want in my life. This fear can only be seen by me. This fear is me.

Can fear be conquered? It seems as though fear is a manifest of not knowing what lies ahead. Fear is a mechanism of protection from a future that’s unknown. Getting to the truth of what lies ahead eliminates the fear as I know what to expect, how to prepare. I know how to do those things or I wouldn’t have gotten this far. The fact of getting to this point, in this present is undeniable. I am here. It is now. I am fully capable of being here because I am here.

The real challenge is not the challenge I set out to do. Its conquering the fear that lies between me and the future. What that future is exactly is not foreseeable and that’s where the fear starts. That’s where the fear builds on itself. That’s where the fear grows and pushes the future further away as I remain stagnant, making it harder to see, to know, and feeding the fear even more. That’s where fear cuts a deep, dark, crevasse between me and the future, the known, the truth.

To conquer the fear, to rise to this real challenge, I must seek the truth. Bring the eventual future closer to the present. I cannot let fear distance me from the truth. Every truth previously undiscovered or unrecognized replaces the fear that once filled its vacancy.

Conquering fear is the heart of discovery, innovation, creation, the heart of truth itself. Conquering fear is the foundation of what I hold up as the highest of virtues. Conquering fear is what makes me progress. Conquering fear is what makes me better. Conquering fear is what gifts me all that I wish to pursue. Conquering fear brings me joy that is felt personally and collectively. Conquering fear makes me fill in the gaps, fill in the unknowns, with the truth. Conquering fear makes me whole. Conquering fear makes me more than adequate.

I cannot conquer fear, innovate, create, or seek the truth without fear to begin with. Fear is real. Fear is necessary. Fear is the beginning. I determine what’s next.