“Fear is success enemy number one.” This is what David Schwartz says in The Magic of Thinking Big. He continues, “Fear stops people from capitalizing on opportunity; fear wears down physical vitality; fear actually makes people sick, causes organic difficulties, shortens life; fear closes your mouth when you want to speak.”

If fear is such a negative influence in life, why do you suppose so many of us allow it? What are we afraid of anyway? The fear of the unknown, stepping into new territory where the end result is uncertain, often prevents a person from taking the necessary risk to achieve their desires. It is just more comfortable to remain where we feel safe. However, that comfort will dissipate after a while when we realize there is no fulfillment in “same.” It is when the discomfort of “same” outweighs the discomfort of change, that we become inspired enough to move forward. Claude Bernard takes it a step further when he states, “We can learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown.”

Zig Ziglar states it this way: “F-E-A-R has two meanings: ‘Forget Everything And Run’ or ‘Face Everything And Rise.’ The choice is yours.”

I hope you choose to rise so you can live . . . life to the fullest.