Turning Fear into a Motivator.

Standing a top the mountain. Only a few steps from the edge. Where the land seems like it has fallen off. And landed thousands of feet below.

My heart races. Palms sweaty. And I use every calming method I can think of to prevent myself from running back to where my mind, feels safe.

This is my biggest fear in life. Or is it?

With the playful holiday of Halloween on a few days away. We find our favorite costumes to throw on. Whether to make the festive goers who arrive at the door, smile. Or to soak up the hoopla ourselves.

Fear always weaves its way into this holiday. Whether the scary costumes, movies or haunted houses.

Most of us resonate fear with a physical property, like the haunted house, that cliff I described in the opening paragraph or the big scary guy with the machete and hockey mask.

But is fear a physical being or thing? Or something we create in our minds?

As I think back to that moment. Sitting close to the edge of the world. With butterflies, the size of eagles in my stomach, and that feeling. The one where I feel so uncomfortable and unsure.

I stayed with my friends, just a few feet from the cliff. For what felt like hours, even though only a few minutes ticked by.

I learned, that feeling. Is growth. Breaking down the barrier that surrounds fear. Embracing that difficult, scary feeling. Thinking less about what could be. And what it actually is. A crippling thought.

As we begin to look at our fears. Acknowledge those debilitating thoughts. See where they come up in other parts of our lives. Put ourselves in those spots. Break the mental hold of feeling safe and comfortable.

Remind ourselves, like the Nightmare on Elm Street, it's only a thought or a bad dream. It will pass. And we will be stronger than Freddy Krueger.