The Thing About Fear

Sweet soul, let me tell you something that might surprise you.

When I was teaching high school art, I realized something that blew my mind – teenagers and adults have exactly the same fears and insecurities. The only difference? Adults have gotten really fucking good at hiding them.

We’ve mastered the art of pretending everything’s fine while we’re dying inside. We’ve built elaborate systems to avoid looking at the scared parts of ourselves. We’ve gotten so good at hiding from our own fear that we’ve forgotten it’s even there.

But what if – and hear me out – instead of hiding from it, we healed it?

What if we could show our kids (and ourselves) how to move through fear instead of around it? What if we could give them tools to handle life’s curveballs without needing to build walls around their hearts?

The conversations I had with my students about confidence, body image, and other people’s opinions? They’re the exact same conversations I have with adults in yoga classes, Reiki sessions, and workshops. Same fears, same insecurities, same beautiful humans just trying to figure it out.

You know what stopped my teenage artists from taking creative risks and putting themselves out there? The same thing that stops every adult I work with: fear of being seen, fear of not being good enough, fear of being “too much” or “not enough.”

In my art classes, I spent more time teaching self-confidence and self-awareness than actual art techniques. Because here’s the secret …the art flowed when they felt safe enough to be seen.

Same with you, lovely. Everything you want to create, express, or become is waiting on the other side of feeling safe enough to be authentically you.

Fearful adults raise fearful children. It’s a cycle that doesn’t have to continue with you. When a mother heals her own relationship with her body, her daughter learns that bodies are meant to be loved, not criticized. When a father faces his own fears, his son learns that courage isn’t the absence of fear – it’s feeling it and moving forward anyway.

You don’t have to have kids to make this healing matter. Do it for yourself. Do it because you deserve to live with awareness, peace, and joy instead of hiding behind protective walls.

Your fears aren’t character flaws, love. They’re just parts of you that need some gentle attention and a lot of compassion.

Ready to give them some love instead…do it for you…