When this article comes out, I will be preparing myself for wisdom teeth removal. I have six apparently, so it should be fun. When I had braces, I remember how bad the pain was when they tightened them. Sometimes I would have to wear a sort of alignment mouth guard which was so tight when I took them off I couldn't put them on the table a few feet from my bed because the relief was so soothing. I fell asleep almost instantly. Tooth pain is the worst kind of pain; it just doesn't stop and it hurts a lot.

Whenever I anticipate pain I almost always tense up in a sort of paralysis. In my mind I'm cringing and wincing thinking, "This is gonna hurt". This sort of fear of pain creates a paralysis and we become inactive. We don't want to go on. We don't want to face the pain. But sometimes we have to go through pain and that's a part of life. Like if I didn't get my wisdom teeth removed, I could have some serious tooth problems and that would lead to more pain. I think this avoidance of pain can lead to more pain later, and sometimes we would rather have it that way.

The reason I'm writing about fear is that it always seems to come back. Every once in a while there is something that comes up and I'm stuck in my tracks. I think we look at the next obstacle and get tunnel vision instead of looking at life in the long term. Fear leads to inactivity and idleness, and getting over obstacles is made more difficult by this. We're always so worried about what's right in front of us, we don't realize that there are bigger problems ahead and what we want to do with our lives won't be solved by standing by.

I think we fear that things won't work out or we fear pain and that everything will work out all right. I don't think that's the case. You have to work hard and take risks. You can't just go through the motions. You have to make choices and sometimes you have to make them quicker than you'd like. My favorite quote is "You think you have time" because really, when fear is holding you back, you're running out of time. You're running out of time to do the things you love and pursue your passions.

Ultimately, you can't fear everything in life. You have to make choices and risks. There will be pain and you will have to overcome obstacles. Some nights you will know that the pain will be unbearable and you don't know how long it will last. Do not avoid it. Overcome it. Fear usually gets in the way. Don't let it stop you from doing what you need to do to keep moving forward.