As the cliché goes, there's nothing to fear but fear itself. It's amazing how much power the four-letter-word fear can have. Day by day, we allow it to successfully destroy dreams, ideas, optimism, and the human spirit. In a clever way, it's the primary opponent of achievement and success. Though a small word, it can position itself to steal joy, intercept personal purpose, and fertilize seeds that result in fruits of regret.

Is fear real? Yes, but make no mistake it's just a word. On its own, it's a word that has no power. Its transformation into a tool of destruction only occurs when we empower it. We make the decision to give it power the same way we can make the decision to do just the opposite. Unless we're in a life-and-death situation, we determine how powerful our fears are, how much we allow them to affect us, and how they manifest themselves in our actions.

Though life can hand out circumstances that are less than sweet, circumstances don't render us powerless, we do. What most of us fail to understand is, fear is a strategic and predictable opportunist. It shows up to talk us out of our own possibilities and make everything seem impossible. Its job is to paralyze, not encourage. More specifically, it seeks to keep us from moving forward, taking risks, recognizing our blessings, and living our best lives.

Recently, I saw a man who ran an entire marathon on his knuckles because he had no legs. With pads on his hands, I watched this 3 foot tall individual carry his body weight one hand in front of the other to finish this challenging race. If you give fear the power to paralyze you, it can keep you from greatness. Only you can choose to render your fears powerless over your destination. Besides, you can't embrace life if you fear living it.