Why I Choose to Be Fearless
When I was in middle school, one of my closest friends at the time had a birthday party at Disney. Living in Florida, I had been to Disney once before. But this was my first time going as a “grown kid”. We drove down and spent the night with her aunt who lived in Kissimmee St. Cloud and spent the next day at the parks. One of the things that stands out to me the most is the Tower of Terror. Or as it is now known, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout.
If you’re unfamiliar, Tower of Terror takes riders 130 feet into the air and then drops them. It is one of the most terrifying and exhilarating rides you can go on, even when you’ve done it before. But during this trip, that was a HUGE nopefish. I refused to ride it. I stayed on the ground with my friend’s mom while the others went on the ride. When they were done, we carried on about the day.
Living With Regret
But even as we rode the other rides, (I really, really love rollercoasters) there was a growing regret. I regretted not going on Tower of Terror. I regretted that I had let my fear stop me from sharing an experience with my friends. Though I don’t think I saw it like then. I would regret that I hadn’t taken this chance, because really, I had more to lose by not going on the ride than by going on it.
These are the kinds of experiences that make me choose fearlessness. Experiences throughout my life when I have looked back, and almost instantly thought, “I should have done that and now I’ve missed my chance. I made excuses out of fear and now I really regret it.”
These moments in my life are far too numerable to count or even remember them all. But this one stands out to me as the first real time that I truly regretted making a decision out of fear. How many opportunities have I missed out on through my life because I let fear get the best of me?
How many opportunities have you missed out on in your life because you made decisions out of fear? When you look back on them, how many regrets can you count?
The choice to live a fearless life is a choice to live without regrets. I don’t want to spend my life looking back on things that I should have done but never had the courage and confidence to do. So, I choose fearlessness. But choosing to live a fearless life hasn’t come easy. To get here I’ve had to make hard decisions and let go of things that I deeply loved, but were no longer for me. And I have had to turn and face the fears that stopped me before.
A Second Chance
Several years after that trip to Disney, I took another one. My best friend (and current business partner) took me to Disney for my graduation gift, and I told her. “I want to ride Tower of Terror.” I held that regret for a long time, and now I was going to get rid of it. This time, I was going to face this fear head-on and ride the ride that had stopped me before.
It was just as terrifying as I expected. And so much fun. I can’t say that it’s my favorite ride, but I’ve ridden it twice now, and I’m still alive to tell the tale. I guess we’ll have to see what it’s like since the rebrand (it was closed for remodel the last time I was there.)
Here’s the tricky thing about facing our fears. When we face one fear, we gain the confidence to face another, bigger fear. Fearlessness and confidence grow with each faced and conquered fear. That’s not to say that there aren’t setback and bad days and trials to be faced, but once you know you can face your fears, once you know that you can face those giants and come out victorious, you have the confidence to face the next one.
I choose to live a fearless life so I can live without regrets and accomplish all that I was put on this earth to accomplish. But your reasons for being fearless may be different. Why do you choose to live a fearless life?
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