Fear

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”–Mark Twain

We took a little family trip to Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos the last few days. The kids had fun going down the different slides and swimming in the pools. For the most part, they were willing to try most of the slides, but there were a few that took a little prodding.

One of the slides had a conveyor belt, and sometimes people get stuck going up the one portion (my guess is the people are not honest about who is heavier and should be in the back). Payton freaked out about going down it, and Logan was also slightly afraid. But I explained to them that it is okay to be afraid, but that you cannot allow fear to rule your mind. 

They went down, Logan enjoyed it, and I believe he went again, whereas Payton did not want to do it again. I told her that it was fine to not like it, but that I was proud that she tried it. Unfortunately they would not try the racing one where you lay on a mat and go against each other, and no matter how much convincing would work.

At one point, Adam asked me if I wanted to go down the Wolf Tail, which is one of those slides where you get into a tube and they drop you through a hatch and you go straight down super fast. I am not going to lie, I was afraid. But, I knew that Adam did it the day before and obviously he was still alive, so I knew I would be fine. And yet…as we walked way up the many sets of stairs, my heart was pounding. I hopped in the tube, and as I waited to drop, my heart felt like it might explode. I was afraid. But then in that final seconds when the operator gave me the thumbs up, I took a deep breath and just accepted the moment…

The bottom fell out, and I felt the air rushing around me. Then I was slowing down and in a shallow pool of water. It was over. I was still alive. 

I was able to tell this to the kids, and I think it helped them to hear that I was afraid. It is a nice lesson to remember: it is okay to be afraid. Fear keeps us alive, but at the same time, we cannot allow the fear to control us, or we will never take chances or try new things. 

Or when you think about it, Frank Herbert said it best in Dune:

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”