Fear

Fear has always been the bane of a mans existence and has driven them away from challenges and the rewards life has to offer. Fear of heights, fear of the unknown, fear of death, or in my case fear of failure had been my vice. This fear had kept me from trying new things and prevented me from learning from my mistakes. I had no clue how to overcome this fear and for the most part I just dismissed it as laziness, that is, until I met Jeff. Jeff was my short, middle aged bass teacher who I saw every Thursday at 5 pm and he was everything I was not. Jeff didn't care if his short shorts were too short, he didn't care if what he said offended you and he certainly wasn't afraid to tell me that I was bad at playing the bass. After several lessons we grew more and more familiar with each other telling entertaining stories to one another and what not. One day I said to Jeff, "Jeff, how do I play better I suck?" Jeff replied to me, "You just gotta keep practicing and start playing in front of people even if you think you sound terrible because skill comes with experience." It was then that I finally admitted my fear to Jeff, that I was afraid of looking like a fool in front of people, that I was afraid I'd mess up. It was then that he gave me his typical dumbfounded face he made whenever I said something stupid and told me what no one had told me up to that point in time. He said, "Do you really think anyone cares about you? Your a 16 year old kid trying to play the bass, do you really think anyone who actually came out to your make-shift performance gives a damn if you made a mistake? Also mistakes are the only way we learn!" he shouted. "It's like Paul McCartney said, with every mistake we must be learning, or else we're boned, so stop complaining and just play!" I was in shock. It was like someone had just come along and lifted a curtain of fog out of my face. It was like taking off sunglasses indoors discovering that they really just made things darker and that's why they're called "sunglasses". My epiphany had come in the form of a small, angry, Canadian man. Who cared if I messed up or looked like an idiot? I would learn from my mistakes and get stronger from doing so. From then on would try my best to throw myself into any situation despite my fear because the best things in life are worth trying for.