more on fear

a little green -  my shaggalicious girl / a favourite huge old poplar tree with lichen / lily of the valley about to blossom / such sweet paws / missy darn d / windowsill geranium / a miniature dewy forest / love her xoxo

Is it useful to feel fear, because it prepares you for nasty events, or is it useless, because nasty events will occur whether you are frightened or not ?

Lemony Snicket

- I can't say enough good about this handbook for life What Happy People Know by Dan Baker
- Lisa Congdon (illustration hero of mine) wrote this fantastic post about fear
- Brené Brown's Daring Greatly is a wonderful reminder that to feel fear is the human condition
- there is no courage, without fear - uh huh ! I know courage ... we're pretty tight courage & I


It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. 
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, 
who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that 
his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt* 


For so long I've been trying to make fear go away, to overcome it, to squash it, numb it, medicate it. I've spent far too much time convincing myself that there was something wrong with me because of the fear I felt, and feel pretty much on a daily basis. That I was flawed, damaged - beyond repair. I think I'm finally, finally realizing that my fear is not going anywhere anytime soon - in fact it's here with me forever. I know fear in many ways shows up as a gift. The secret, I now believe, is much more about my relationship with it, with fear, it's up to me, it's my choice how much power and control I will relinquish to fear. When it knocks on my door I need to acknowledge it and say Yo ! Fear Whatcha need ? It continues to amaze me how much we continue to keep growing & evolving as people and personalities and what a huge comfort it is to remember just that. I think I'm gonna try giving fear a few big ol' big bear hugs ;-)

Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

* Roosevelt's quotation that inspired the title of Brené Brown's latest book Daring Greatly