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| San Carlos, Panama |
Musing…
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face...You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face...You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Charise’s Turn:
I recently visited my ninety-two year old father after a year and seven months of pandemic related separation. He lives in Panama, which has tighter restrictions and Covid-19 safety protocols in place than the United States. The biggest hurdle for going to see him was fear: fear of traveling internationally, fear of a positive covid test result, fear of being quarantined and not allowed to return as scheduled. My world (like yours, perhaps) has shrunk dramatically since March 2020. It’s been a mostly secluded kind of life, with virtual work and quiet writing time. Brief opportunities to step out into a larger community seem surreal.
I recently visited my ninety-two year old father after a year and seven months of pandemic related separation. He lives in Panama, which has tighter restrictions and Covid-19 safety protocols in place than the United States. The biggest hurdle for going to see him was fear: fear of traveling internationally, fear of a positive covid test result, fear of being quarantined and not allowed to return as scheduled. My world (like yours, perhaps) has shrunk dramatically since March 2020. It’s been a mostly secluded kind of life, with virtual work and quiet writing time. Brief opportunities to step out into a larger community seem surreal.
Any decision to leave the U.S. to be with my father for a week could not rely on a ‘safer’ or ‘better’ situation. The best we could do was to be vaccinated. My fears about going were grounded––especially after getting stuck in Morocco last spring, which required a rescue charter flight to get back home. It wasn’t a matter of getting past fear, or denying risk, that set my plan in motion. What I had to do was allow fear to fail to sway me. When that happened, then the prodding of something stronger––namely, love––became an organizing force.
Get Fired Up:
Where, in your life, is there something stirring beneath the surface of fear? Can you “look fear in the face” and find the courage to be led by love in your decisions?
Where, in your life, is there something stirring beneath the surface of fear? Can you “look fear in the face” and find the courage to be led by love in your decisions?
