Fear and Courage

Fear and courage are emotions that have shaped my life in many ways. I am less fearful now, and that is a blessing. Whether that shift is the result of living more securely or being better able to handle fear, I’m not yet sure.

Fear does not always mean living under constant threat, although I have done that for extended periods. During those periods, the only effective remedy I found was to say, “Life, or whoever, do your worst. I don’t give a flying…” and mean it. In that moment, I changed from feeling frozen to feeling wonderfully alive. What surprised me was how long I allowed myself to suffer before I finally had enough and said no more. Being afraid, I found, is just as much a choice as having courage.

“If you lead men into battle,” my grandfather used to say, “you cannot be a pessimist.”

I believe in my heart that he was right. Then again, he never told me how he got to be so courageous. Perhaps, he simply learned it.

I suppose that is why I love to explore the subject of fear and courage in my writing. These are prominent themes in Eye of the Moon.