I met Brian in a pub a week or so ago.  Brian is a nice guy from back “east” somewhere.  He was on his way to California.  At least that was his plan.  He hit some obstacles and wasn’t sure he would make it there.  We talked about his ‘journey.’

As we talked, I found that the obstacles in his way were barriers that he seemed to be there himself.  He seemed to be justifying reasons for him to end his journey short of the coast.  We talked about the journey.  I encouraged him to ‘complete the journey.’

The Journey – It’s hard.  At least mine has been.  So many obstacles.  Things that get in the way of the path that I follow.  Obstacles make it hard.  You have to move them, go around them or change your path.  Obstacles are the things we don’t / can’t plan for.

When we start our journey, whatever form that may be, we plan, we envision.  We get excited but it is a scary thing, this journey.  Scary enough that many never take that first step, the proverbial hardest step.

When we envision we see the end, or what we hope will be the end result.  We plan and hope for the shortest distance between two points, the straight line.  Funny how that straight line, the straight path, doesn’t stay very straight as we sojourn on.

It’s about the obstacles.  Many placed before us, blocking the path.  They may be financial, they maybe health issues.  They may be relationships, or the place you live or the place you work.  These obstacles can seem insurmountable.  It may take a herculean effort and a creative solution to move these barriers, or it may mean having to jump;  having to risk it all to go around or over these obstacles.

Risk.  Jumping.  Straying from our envisioned path.  What a scary endeavor this truly is.  Terrifying.

Some, if not MOST barriers in the way of our journey are self deployed.  Those things that forever enter one’s mind: self-doubt.  Self-doubt questions the path we take or even the journey itself.

“Can I do this?  Am I too old?  Is it to late for me?  Can I make this work?”

The obstacles that stand in our way, that block the path, whether by circumstance or self imposed all come down to the same demon.

Fear.

Fear stops the first step.  Fear holds us back.  Fear stops us in our tracks.  Fear stops us from completing the journey.

But I find that fear is NOT an obstacle.  Fear can not be moved.  You can’t go around fear, and diverting the path because of fear is to STOP all forward momentum.  Fear must be defeated.  We must push through fear, subdue it, beat it down, crush it.

When we push through fear, when we risk in the face of fear, when we jump, not away from fear but in spite of fear, we win.  We may not succeed right away.  In fact we may fail.

At first.

But if we succumb to fear we lose.  We stop moving, we end the journey short of where we need to be.  But if we try in spite of fear and fail, the journey continues.  That failure becomes a learning moment.  We learn.  We may change our path but we still move forward, we journey on.

Some say to complete the journey one must be fearless but to be fearless is to be ignorant.  We all face fear.  It is inevitable to the human experience.  Fear is there, it’s real.  The question becomes what to do when we face fear?  Do we look fear in the eyes, blink and walk away defeated or do we stare it down and force fear to sink back into the shadows.  One must be brave to journey, not fearless, but brave.  Bravery, as the Boy Scout Law defines it, is not being brave without fear, but being brave in spite of ones fears.

My journey has been many things.  Some planned and envisioned but more unexpected surprises, (and not always a good surprise).  There have been obstacles, there has been fear.  And before I reach this journey’s end, there will be more obstacles and more fear.  But as I move forward, as I get further down the path, I find the obstacles become easier to move and that fear need not be a paralyzing threat.  Risks are easier to take.  The jump is not as scary.

Don’t know yet where my journey will take me in the end.  But I do know that I will continue.  In spite of fear, I WILL RISK, I WILL JUMP!

Brian emailed me yesterday with a photograph of him and his car at Laguna Beach, CA.  He wanted me to know he completed his journey.

Thank you brother.