We live in uncertain times. But the truth is that we have always lived in uncertain times. In my lifetime, there’s been wars, the Cold War, 9/11, the Great Recession, and now the coronavirus pandemic. We cannot see tomorrow and if we live in fear then we can become paralyzed and fearful of taking risks.

When I was in graduate school, I asked a bunch of my friends to come to see me read some of my work at a poetry night at a local bookstore. One by one, my friends dropped out and let me know that they couldn’t make it.

On the night of the poetry reading, I had a choice: I could go on my own or cancel. I was scared and didn’t know what was going to happen. Maybe I would get up there and people would laugh at me or I’d choke up and not be able to read my poems.

I decided to face the unknown and go to the poetry reading by myself.

I read my poems, people applauded, and that was that. The big fear of the unknown vanished in the blink of an eye.

But what happened after the poetry reading is what caught me by surprise. After the event ended, I helped a friend put chairs away, and a woman came up to say hello to our mutual friend. Little did I know that the woman and I would fall in love and get married.

The unknown is simply that: Not knowable. We can spend lots of time and energy worrying about how things will turn out, but we can only do the best we can.

Fear of the unknown can trigger memories of our childhood and some of the difficult times we went through as kids in an alcoholic and dysfunctional family.

We cannot map out all of our lives from moment to moment and staying in perpetual fear of the unknown will not help us live a life of peace and joy.

Sometimes we need to take healthy risks. What’s a health risk? I can’t answer that for you. We are different people.

I invite you to learn something new, to grow beyond who you are today, and to embrace hope.

The fear of the unknown that you struggle with today could open doors for you in ways that you cannot see.

Like what you’ve read? Be sure to check out my other posts in my Let Go and Be Free blog.