Like many of you out there, I’ve spent a huge chunk of my life living in fear.

Fear of the unknown, of what could happen, and what is happening. The fear of not being in control, of other’s thoughts, and even the fear of myself.

If life is, indeed, “too short,” why do we fear taking risks? Why are we ignoring that little voice in the back of our head that yells at us to go after our dreams and allows anxiety to paralyze us instead of sharing our story with the world?

This got me thinking. What is it that we are really afraid of? Is it the fear of not being liked? Of not connecting with others? Or maybe it’s simply a fear of being alone.

I think there’s more to it.

It’s the fear of love. Of relationships, meeting new people, getting out of our comfort zone, and changing our environments. We fear traveling and seeing the world and, most of all, we fear evolving because we fear outgrowing our friends.

For many, it’s the fear of being a minority, of being gay, being allies, activists, standing up for what’s right, being laughed at by our peers, and being different because we fear not fitting in.

But yet we do little to nothing to stop this panic from freezing us. We are locked down in limbo. Making decisions based on worries instead of opportunities.

Deep down we know we want to make changes in our lives yet we talk ourselves out of it 9 times out of 10. We may even find the courage to put an idea into the world just to turn around and let other fearful people (family/friends/coworkers/strangers) talk us out of it.

We need to stop making decisions for our own lives based on the fear of other’s opinions on the choices we make. In the end, this is just an excuse that we come up with to avoid doing the things we know we ought to do. We live in a state of fear instead of freedom.

For too many years we have been trapped by fear. Fear has us settling for jobs that barely pay the rent and staying in relationships that we should have ended years ago. Fear has us living in the same neighborhood for decades never once even trying to leave the block.

Fear keeps us from going back to school to further our education, turning away from our dream life and keeping us from pushing ourselves to become more than what we are. It has us never asking that guy or gal out for a drink because of the possibility of being rejected and hiding behind an iPhone screen instead of communicating face to face.

“We need to stop making decisions for our own lives based on the fear of other’s opinions on the choices we make.”

The point of this blog is simple. We have allowed fear to stop us from doing many things. I know I have let fear control my life. I have allowed worry and anxiety about what could possibly happen to keep me grounded when my heart screamed at me, “JUST JUMP!”

Fear is the reason I am not where I want to be in life, the reason I sometimes avoid going after, let alone accomplishing, my goals. Fear is why I’ve caught myself surrendering to the status quo and following the same daily routine as everyone else. It is the reason I have found myself as a sheep and not a wolf and why I’ve lived a life filled with regrets.

If we don’t do anything about it, fear is the reason we may die never knowing what we were put on this earth to do.

Too much of our life has been wasted by giving in to fear. The question is will we continue to let this fear dictate the rest of our lives? Or will we finally say “FUCK YOU FEAR!” and take control.

The choice is ours. Choose Wisely.