We all have our fears.

Some of us are afraid of heights. Maybe it’s spiders, snakes or sharks that get your hands sweating and your heart racing. Other fears may deeper, fears of moving on, being loved, being alone, growing up. Whatever our fears are, we are most afraid of overcoming our fears.

As I write this, I am 30,000 feet in the air, sitting on an airplane that’s experiencing an abundance of turbulence.

Let me begin by letting you know that one of my biggest fears, amongst many, is flying. Trust me, I know the facts about flying. I know it’s the “safest way to travel” but does that help me? Rarely. So, if I know the facts and if I believe the facts then why am I still terrified?

Maybe we enjoy our fears. I know this sounds crazy but truly think about it for a second. Think about the things that make us who we are. Our passions, our personalities, our beliefs and maybe even our fears. What if, in some buried corner of our subconscious, we are actually afraid to let go of our fears because it may mean letting go of part of our identities? I doubt I have convinced you yet so let me continue to ramble on.

When you meet someone new, there are the typical bases that you have to cover to really get to know them. When we were growing up, we even had a game that we would play. Now I know 20 questions has a bad reputation BUT it really used to be innocent. 20 questions, a game where you can ask a person 20 questions to get to know them. Typically, you figured out their favorite things, movies, colors, songs, as well as a bit about their family, and more often than not, what they were scared of.

Fear is an emotion that we don’t like to experience, but yet, it intrigues me more than others. How can I be deathly afraid of airplanes while there are people who literally set out to become pilots or flight attendants? What is it in my mind that causes me to fear something that excites other people? And why can’t I get over this fear?

I think it’s because my fears are part of who I am and the thought of losing part of myself is intimidating. I think something we fear even more than our fears is overcoming them. So maybe, instead of fearing our fears, we should embrace them the same way we embrace our passions, our personalities and our beliefs. Who would we be without these things? It’s impossible to be fearless. Work with your fears to create the best version of yourself. Thanks to my fears, I can confidently say I will never become a pilot, and I am perfectly fine with that.