The Art of Fear
By: Shauna Zamarripa
Today was the first time I ever heard fear overtake his
voice. He said, “I got some bad news from one of my workers. His sister died
today.”
I inquired, “How?”
He said, “Cancer.”
I could hear him choking back tears, as if maybe it was the first
time he had really thought about it; really grappled with the notion that this
thing inside of me could take me too.
Of course, I asked the obvious questions:
What kind?
How long?
How long did she have it?
All of my questions met with the same fate as the answers
were falling out of his mouth, “I don’t know…..I just…..How are you feeling?”
Sometimes, in the complex simplicity of words, I think we
can hear someone else’s pain, feel their fear, somehow “get” their anxiety and
try to meet them on the battlefield with our armor on….to shield them from
whatever growing sickness wants to take us away….or even to fight beside them.
To be what they need, just as they are what we need them to be….at precisely the right time when we need them to be
that.
A warrior.
A soldier.
A general.
A Valkeryie.
As we should.
Because there is a certain comfort in the fight.
Sometimes.
Mastering the art of fear is in the result of overcoming it. Of accepting whatever is, whatever was, whatever will be….and doing all of that with supreme grace.
No matter what storm you are weathering right now, no matter
how downtrodden or beaten down you feel by whatever circumstance life has
thrown your way, try to never forget that ultimate necessity of compassion for the people who love you;
for their suffering, for their pain, for their being beside you, with you and
behind you in supporting you in whatever struggle or pain or fear you endure. For
reminding you that you are not alone.
That you are NEVER alone.
And then? Get back up. Fight. Fight until your knuckles bleed, rage on
until your feet are cracked and broken, until your bones ache, until you feel
like you can’t go on.
Then? Keep fighting some more. Because you will not go gently into any
fucking goodnight. Because a flame like yours is meant to burn, not to be
extinguished. By anything. Ever.
Never, ever, EVER forget that.
From One Warrior to a Million Others, With Love,
Miss Adventures
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