You see, fear keeps you from doing many things. This is understandable simply because it is Mother Nature’s way of keeping you safe. You see, I am afraid of splatting on the ground, therefore I do not jump off the bridge. Pain works in the very same fashion. If we bump our head and it hurts, that is pain’s way of saying, “Hey be more careful.” Fear can also keep you from performing your best -- whether it is giving a speech in school or playing a sport. Aside from the above examples, fear mostly keeps you from having fun and doing what you love. If you are afraid to get hit, you will not play football. If that’s the case, you probably won’t want to play baseball or soccer either. But what fun it is to get out with your friends or schoolmates and throw the football, play tag, dodge ball or be part of a team. You must accept a little risk to unlock the potential to have a lot of fun. 

I grew up playing golf. Lots of other sports too but golf was the one I chose to focus my energy on. I was pretty good. Certainly, I had my moments. At times, I could hit the ball, chip and putt as well as anyone. I tell people that fear kept me off the television (playing professionally on tv). I believe that I was afraid of failure and therefore lacked the confidence to take me to the next level. Now I play golf for fun with nothing to fear. Today, I do a lot of things. I ski and snowboard, mountain bike, fly fish, hike, camp and probably lots of others. When I ski or snowboard, I must be brave. I need to have the confidence in my abilities in order to turn on steep slopes. To know that I am not going to crash and, if I do, know that it’s not going to be a big deal. Crashing is part of life. On the mountain bike, you must ride with confidence in order to go fast downhill and to power through the challenging uphills and crazy twists and turns. All those steep slopes, fast downhills, twists and turns are what make life fun and exciting. I don’t want to sit inside and tell myself, “That sure would be fun to go down that mountain but I might get hurt so I’ll stay inside and be a scaredy-cat.” I want to be outside having fun with my friends and family or even by myself. So, fear must take a backseat to faith. Because I want to go play and have fun. I want to do my best and perform the way I know I can. 

Don’t let fear dominate your life. Let faith take over. In these trying times, have faith that life will return to normal and you can freely go out and experience the mountain and enjoy all that life has to offer. Don’t get sucked into the panic and the fear. Life will return. It will be better than ever. You can count on that.