Fear of....fear?

I had an experience lately that brought to my attention the number one thing people are afraid of, and it is fear.
People are afraid of being afraid. Fear is a God given instinct that gives us pause when we put ourselves in a dangerous position. Like standing on the edge of a cliff looking down causes your knees to get weak and the need to move away from the edge. Like standing on the BIG diving board at the pool and deciding that it is way too high to be jumping from.
But we can't allow our lives to be ruled by fear, so much that we are afraid of anything that we decide to do nothing.
My daughter told me the other day after making a mistake in a ballgame that she was afraid of making another mistake. That type of attitude many times can put us into captivity. We shut ourselves out and decide the only way to not make another mistake is to quit playing all together. But once we get over the fear of making a mistake, we are free to make the plays that result in winning the game instead of losing the game.
I once read where the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, missed more game winning shots than he ever made. Yep, he did not make them all. I know every time I think of his Airness he was drilling a jumper over Byron Russel of the Utah Jazz or Craig Ehlo of the Cleveland Cavaliers to win a championship. Let me ask a question, what if Michael had missed his first shot to win a game and decided to never try again? Well we would have missed some memorable moments that is for sure. But Michael got over his fear of missing, how? Because he embraced making the shot more than missing the shot. He got over his fear in doing what should in the natural made him the most afraid. He did not allow missing the game winner to define him although he missed more than he made, instead his willingness to take that game winner made him into the greatest basketball player ever.
So next time you are afraid to try something over the fear of failing, remember to shoot, and if you miss shoot it again, sooner or later you are bound to make one!