Fearless

Despite the fact that I travel quite often, either for work or for fun, and have been for several years, I still get anxious when approaching the airport.  If I'm being honest, and I try to be, it starts the minute my bags hit the trunk of the car and it doesn't end until I'm on the plane.  The moment of ultimate fear is when I stand in the line, without my shoes, trying to toss all of my items on the conveyor belt and waiting for the inevitable machine which forces me to raise my arms that now have embarrassing sweat stains because I'm THAT NERVOUS.  Recently while traveling on business to Dallas I was granted the opportunity to walk through all the security clearances (don't ask me how I got that special clearance, it just showed up on my ticket and I didn't ask questions).  Not having to wait in the "show me your ID" or "empty your suitcase and take off your shoes" line took that usual anxiety away.  And it hit me,  I'm not a nervous person afraid of flying, I'm a nervous waiter.  And so, it got me thinking. 

 

How many of us are nervous waiters?  You know, worried and wondering what comes next, when will we get there and what will it be like?  Worried about what we'll have to take off or let go of and anxious about the steps that we'll be made to take and the line we'll be asked to walk.  And well, if you're like me, these little things don't seem so little and well, it's nerve wracking.  The unknown is painfully and brutally distracting. 

 

Lately my friends, all quickly approaching their 30s and a few unfortunate ones like myself, inching closer to the next decade, have found themselves in the corral line moving slowly through back-and-forth lines where little progress seems to be made.  Once they reach what they believe to be the next step in reaching their ultimate goal, they're stopped, stripped clean of everything, and are left standing there while everyone else moves forward.  So, how do we stop from being anxious?  How do we become fearless?

 

I don't have the answers.  If I did, I wouldn't be the one standing in line with sweat stains.  But maybe you do.  Maybe you have answers or maybe, just maybe, we're all a little nervous and being fearless is nothing more than putting on a brave face and pretending that everything will be okay even if we don't know it will be.