"Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of fear." - Mark Twain

Mark Twain's quotes are often my favorite, but this one has a special significance to my current state of mind.

I think most people assume that if you take a risk you must either be stupid or fearless. Why else would you give up all you have for a questionable future? Especially now that the markets are bad, the future of everyone is up in the air. This is no time to take risks.

So I must be fearless, right?

I must be a snob. I must be secure in my abilities. I must be rich. I must be dumb.

Well, I'm not.

I just believe in the power of fear and the necessity of conquering it.

A while back, I wrote about how sometimes it's okay to ignore an issue. Sometimes time helps issues disappear. Sometimes you change your mind. Sometimes you just learn to let go.

But that's not the case with fear. Fear tends to grow with avoidance.

Imagine you're in a bad relationship and you're scared to leave him or her for fear that you might never find 'the one.' So you put it off. Another year passes and now your relationship is even worse, yet you're a year older, and even more scared to leave. Another year and you're even worse off. One more year, and you're completely stuck. You may never get out.

The same applies to pretty much everything of which you're afraid. A bad job, moving out, moving in, a bad friend. The longer you're in, the harder it is to get out.

The trick is not 'not to fear', it's to face your fears. To attack them head on and remind yourself that you deserve better. Or at least that you owe it to yourself to try. As Shakespeare said, "Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt."

Cause if you don't try, you cannot possibly achieve.

So I'm going to try. I am scared. But I want to try. I need to try. I will try.

Care to join me?

Previously? Cuppcik.