As my 21st birthday approaches and I think about the next phase of my life, the idea of fear keeps popping up in my thoughts. What is it about fear? What are we afraid of? Why do we let one little concept hold us back from so much? There are so many things that I want to do but do not because of my fear of the unknown. I do not know how it is going to turn out so why do it? Yet, most of the things that have scared me the most have been the most rewarding. There is something about stepping out of your comfort zone that gives me the same satisfaction as accomplishing something. It is because I am. It is a huge accomplishment to say that this used to scare you, or it still does, but you are not going to let fear hold you back from something you love. Over the years I have pushed myself to do the things that I fear the most because so many people have said that it would be good for me. It is no surprise that I found that they were right.

I am still becoming more of who I am each day. I still push myself to do the things that scare me. Why? Because if I allow fear to hold me back, I will never live up to the person I know that I want to be. I will never push through and continue to dream. And once I give up, what is the point? Fear gives me something to look forward to. I wake each day and ask myself, "What am I going to do that scares me today?" It is not because I want to be scared, but because I know that it is not as scary as I thought it was before. There is so much more out there than the little circle I draw around myself. If I never had stepped out of it, I would have never met my best friends, discovered that theatre is my life, or thought I could have gone to college at all.

If people continue to be scared they would never leave the house. You may have never been born (now that is something to think about) if your parents were too afraid to talk. I know that "Carpe Diem", or "Seize the day" is so overplayed by now, but my personal motto is, "Dream until it is a reality" because if you are still hung up on your fears, eventually your fears become your reality and because you believe you will fail, you make it happen. Something else that has helped me with my fears is research. Say that there is an acting class I really want to take. If I am too afraid I might ask around, talk to the instructor, or visit the website. If you are too afraid to jump in head first, then this is a good place to start because once you get a little understanding of the idea, it makes it a little less scary.

Other things I do to help conquer that feeling of fear is to try and understand why it scares me. What is it that has me shaking in my keds? Sometimes when you can find the root of the fear, it makes it a lot less scary. Or, I decide to think of it in another perspective. Instead of, "Jumping out of a plane is scary," I rephrase and say, "Jumping out of a plane is an experience I will remember for the rest of my life and I may learn something new about myself."

There are so many ways to conquer your fears, but the best way is to just do it. Continue to jump into it until it becomes comfortable and then find a way to become uncomfortable. Never stop pushing yourself. Because if you stop pushing yourself, you stop growing.