The Vision

What would a life look like without fear?

I don’t pretend to have the answer.

I have frequently fallen victim to fear, disarmed by its silent attacks, a prisoner of the worries it spins out of empty air. I have been tentative, tiptoeing around the fears I have buried, anticipating shadows surely lurking in wait. Fear is a presence I know well, the kind of enemy that, once eradicated, never stays away for long.

No. I’m not entirely sure what a life looks like without fear.

But I know that I want to find out.

I can imagine what a fear-free existence might entail. I think of beauty and unbridled joy, opportunity unsaddled by doubt. I can see myself leaping into the unknown, following paths that hold no guarantee and smiling in the face of failure with the knowledge that it has no power over me.

I see a life in which the little things really matter, in which a flower bathed in sunlight or the coolness of a brisk breeze is enough to lift a weary soul. I envision love without limits because rejection means nothing, because being right is less than merely being, and affirmation pales in comparison to the brilliance of  being held by a hand stronger than the grasp of this fickle earth.

I see myself savouring each precious moment, finding roots where life has planted me, knowing that my future is not balanced on the edge of chance or dependent on my own attempts to reach perfection.

With this sparkling vision before my eyes, the truth I see most deeply is that living in the grips of fear is not really living at all.

So perhaps it’s time to break the chains in search of something better.

Finding freedom is a process and I know that it won’t happen all at once. But it’s easier with the knowledge that this perfect peace exists, and easier when I stop fearing the scope of my own potential, fearing that I am not enough instead of understanding that I will be given enough when I need it.

So what would my life look like without fear?

I’m not completely certain.

But at last I believe I can attain the vision I described, and I know it will be worth it when I do.