Fearless

Necklace found @ www.etsy.com...maybe I'll get this for my birthday

My daughter called me before she caught her final flight to Rhode Island where her life would change forever. She caught me up on everything she'd been doing in Colorado the week prior, and I smiled as I listened to her excited voice describing her adventures. At the end she added, "Mom, my friend gave me a handmade necklace and engraved on it is the word 'fearless'". I began to cry. "That's what I named this year," I told her. We agreed that the Universe is a strange, magical place!

We are now five days into the new year and I finally got around to taking my first "fearless" step. To be perfectly honest, I AM afraid. I am the master of second guessing myself, especially when it comes to making BIG decisions. The problem is that I'm old enough now to understand how sometimes when things go wrong, they go horribly wrong and finding your way back to "right" can be an exhausting, painful trip. That's why I get afraid. That's why I want to take the right path, make that right choice. Unfortunately, most choices don't come with labels that say, "Very right", "Might Work Out", "NOT This One, for the Love of Pete"! Half the time it's exactly as my wonderful mother-in-law used to advise, "Make the best decision based on the information you have at the time and adjust accordingly." It's still risky, but even if you do step into a big ol' pile of W-R-O-N-G, you do so knowing you did your best. That's all anyone can ask of themselves. I'm also giving myself permission this year to take those giant leaps in spite of any fear I might have about them. Does that make me any less fearless just because I'm afraid? I don't know, but it's certainly easier to put that single word on a necklace than it is to put, "I'm scared as hell but let's do it anyway and see what happens."