I’m fast approaching my 31st birthday, and have been thinking about my next 31 Feet topic for awhile now. Every year for the past few years, I’ve come to my birthday and set a goal, a birthday resolution if you will. 🙂 One year my goal was confidence. Last year it was yoga. I’ve never told anyone that I do this, because I feel like when you tell people, there’s extra pressure. But the cat’s out of the bag now because I’ve found a goal that I’d love to talk about here online.

I choose my goal because it’s something that I want in my life, something that’s not just a change for a year, but a change that I want in myself for life. And the thing that I can’t get off my mind for this year’s birthday goal is fear. I don’t want it anymore.

I’ve been thinking about fear a lot lately. I don’t know if it is a midlife crisis thing or if a trust thing, a mother thing, a coward thing or what. All I know is that I am sick of it. I’m sick of letting fear determine what I do and do not do in my life, parenting, relationships, and faith life. Being afraid of things is ultimately not trusting that God will take care of me, my concerns, and those I love. Being afraid of what people think or say about me has kept me from being who God created me to be. Being fearful has kept me from sharing my faith and reaching out. And that’s just not right.

I’ve been thinking about approaching this subject here on 31 Feet for about a month, but I just didn’t know where to start. Then a few weeks ago I ran into an article about fear in a magazine I was reading (funny how that happens sometimes, huh?). The article was about a book called Daring Greatly, written by Brene Brown. She’s a researcher who studies not just fear, but the root causes of it. Her exhaustive studies about fear and living wholeheartedly have led her to the conclusion that conquering fears isn’t about conquering fears, but about having the courage to be vulnerable.

I’m a few chapters in, and it’s fascinating. It’s not written from a spiritual perspective, but my mind is buzzing with how it all connects to my spiritual life. I’m really excited, and I’d like to share some of what I learned here and apply it not just to my life, but to my faith. Because that’s where it all starts, right?

Stay tuned for more!