Do Something That Scares You

“Today it is Friday -
But even if it were Tuesday -
Do something that scares you.

“But I don’t like a scare,”
You say
As the fear
Wells up.
“But who does?”
No one,
Not really.
Do something that scares you.

What is fear?
It exists for a reason,
A reminder of us:
Animals.
All.
It kept us alive,
Thriving, communing,
Building, expanding,
Until we needed it
No more.
Not a need,
But a leftover.
Do something that scares you.

Breathing is easy.
Sitting is easy.
Dying is easy.
What progress is made?
But when your breath is taken,
Your legs move onward,
And life courses through
Your awakened body -
Your enlivened mind -
Everything changes.

Eyes are opened.
Lessons learned.
Minds are blown
Past imagination.
Living is hard,
And learning is harder,
And scary,
And worth it.
Every.
Blasted.
Time.
Do something that scares you.

You want,
Do you not?
You desire,
So you fear.
But the want
Will not kill you,
So the fear isn’t real.
No,
I just told a lie,
For the fear,
It is real.
It’s realer than most of
What you see
And hear
And perceive
And touch
Through the world around you.

It makes you want to die.
Not the fear,
But the want.
Your cells ache
With desire
And you feel they may burst
And Death may walk in.
You fear because
You want.
And that’s how we grow,
We evolve,
We learn,
We change,
We build,
We get,
We make,
We give,
And we fill
This void called Life.

So scare yourself.
Make.
Then again,
And grow.
And once you’ve conquered fear,
Go on.
Find more.
And then,
Once again,
Just as before:
Do something that scares you.”

— "Do Something That Scares You" by Michael Radi