A Post a Day in May #27: Fear is not the point

I have pledged to write a new post for this blog every day in May. 

I don’t much like the dark. It’s scary because I don’t know what’s hiding in it, and my imagination runs wild. All my life, I’ve disliked it, but, as an adult, I have learned to deal with it. After all, it is not practical for a grown person to be debilitated by the dark. So, I take a flashlight with me to the basement to check in the corners for baddies; I walk with purpose down the road after sundown, saying to myself, “Don’t be an idiot. It’s just the dark.” 

The thought of the dark is often worse than the darkness itself. And, truly, there is nothing quite like the euphoria of facing the fear and having done what, for a moment, seemed impossible. I don’t like checking out the corners of the basement for baddies, but I’d far rather know they weren’t there than wonder if they are. And walking down the road gets me home, which, after dark, is where I want to be. 

As Mark Twain said, “Courage is not the absence of fear; it is acting in spite of it.” 

We cross the threshold between fear and action, when we want to have done what the fear stands in the way of us doing. Yes, the fear remains, but only in our heart. In our head, courage takes over and — boom, we move, we act, we do. 

Charlotte Murphy's students' Fear Chair

When Charlotte Murphy, a fifth grade art teacher, realized that many of her young students were so debilitated by fear that they could not be creative, she read to them from Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic: “Fear,” writes Gilbert, “is allowed to have a seat in the car when we are being creative, but it's not allowed to drive.” Murphy’s students liked this idea so much that they invented a Fear Chair for their art room. Now, “when it’s time to create, the kids…send their fear to sit in the Fear Chair” and then they get on with their art work. The fear does not disappear; it is sent off to sit in the chair. 

I don’t own a Fear Chair, but I love the concept: Fear exists. It’s real. Don’t pretend it’s not. But, also, don’t let it rule you: Acknowledge it. Park it. Then, move on. 

Whether you’re drawing a picture, facing down a foe, or having a big meeting, acknowledge the fear, send it off, find your courage, and move boldly forward into the dark. 

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