What Would I Do If I Weren't Scared?

I grew up with boundaries. “That’s enough sweets”; “Stay on the shallow side of the pool”; “Don’t climb too high”; “Come straight home after school.”  

You get the idea.

I had a loving, anxious mother who never felt at ease when we left her side until she gave us a warning. It could be any kind of warning; it didn’t matter.  If she were cast in a play she would and should play the role of the soothsayer who warned Julius Caesar to “Beware the Ides of March.”

As we headed off to school as kids we laughed about mommy and her worried ways as we bounded toward the untold danger and excitement headed our way. As time wore on, her anxiety began to chip away at the carefree confidence we had when we were really little. Mommy was the she-bear of all she-bears trying to protect us with her verbal walls.

While I do have mommy to thank for my street wise ways because she made assessing strangers like a science for us kids, I am also averse to taking certain risks as an adult.

Let’s call a spade a spade; I have to fight my tendencies to play it safe.  I can’t blame mommy for making me over think and over worry, but every vice has an origin and that is my earliest memories of forfeiting a new experience because of fear.

So, looking back I ask myself: “What would I do now if I were not scared?”

In no particular order, here goes:

• Homeschool my kids
  
  
• Drive the speed limit in snow
  
  
• Get on a rollercoaster with my son
  
  
• Find a regular babysitter
  
  
• Entertain more guests
  
  
• Confront some family members
  
  
• Ask for a raise
  
  
• Drive to New York from Virginia . . . and back
  
  
• Paint our bedroom . . . ok, make that the house
  
  
• Read the Bible in a year (Take 3)
  
  
• Write a blog . . . . .  ;)
  
  

Now it’s your turn.

I look forward to seeing your lists!