So here’s the thing: I’m human.

For some strange reason, I’ve let every excuse in the book prevent me from writing and posting articles for the last couple of months. Work is busy. I can’t write on the weeks I’ve got my daughter. I don’t know what to write. I have to work on my book review (which, I also have been procrastinating on… and yet, my brain still thinks it’s a good excuse).

The thing is, if I allow myself time to figure out what’s really going on, behind the excuses, it’s that age-old enemy that I have been fighting my whole life: Fear. Fear that I’m not good enough. Fear that I’m not smart enough. Fear that I’m not worthy enough.

Fear that I’m not enough.

But here’s something that Fear doesn’t know. I’m getting better at spotting it, and getting back up, and back to doing what I love.

And as much as fighting back Fear empowers me to get back up, and keep going, I realize now that Fear will always be there. Fear is a part of me.

Fear is a part of us all.

We were all born with it. It’s part of our evolutionary makeup. As Dan Baker says in What Happy People Know (read my book review here!), Fear lies in our reptilian brain. It is inextricably part of who we are as human beings. Because of this,

we can’t ever conquer Fear. But we can learn to manage it, reframe it, work WITH it.

Instead of letting my Fear instill a long-standing “Freezing” reaction within me (as in Fight, Flight, or Freeze), by making me procrastinate from doing what I love to do most (writing), I can practice using my rational mind to remember that there is nothing to be afraid of, truly.

There is no mammoth chasing me.

There is no sabre-toothed tiger.

There is no group of 14-year old girls standing in front of me, judging me (my writing) by their ridiculous and completely unattainable standards, and laughing at my inadequacies. Ok, that came out on its own…

I am a grown ass woman. And all is well.

I have no piece of advice to offer you today, except maybe to share that I am human. Just like you. I am learning. Just like you. And if I can share a little bit of what I learn along my journey, and have it help someone with what they are living, even if it’s just so they know that they are not alone, then I will have done today, what I am called to do in this life.

Fear sucks. It’s the worst of our challenges, because it comes from within us. But if I can get back up after it punches me in the guts over several weeks, you can too.

Now come on, let’s both get up, kick Fear in the balls, and get back to doing work that makes us come alive.