Don't April Fools' Yourself

Sometimes fear can be funny when it's a reaction to a playful surprise on April Fools' Day. A harmless trick might provide a momentary laugh or two but tricking yourself ain't funny at all, especially when you allow fear to outsmart you.

Fear twists things around until it makes sense. Fear makes opposites exactly what they are not. Because fear is a trickster, it intentionally confuses right with wrong, good with bad, best with worst and risk with danger. For instance, fear can make something right seem seem stupid and something wrong seem intelligent. This is the exact opposite.

What's truly amazing is this. Were it not for the “apostrophe t,” the fearful and the brave would live the same lives.

The “apostrophe t” makes all the difference. One can, the other can't. One learns they should, the other knows they shouldn't. One will, the other won't. To one, there is a choice. To the other there isn't. When it comes to making important decisions, one must and will have. The other mustn't and will have not. Peace that is.

Removing the “apostrophe t” from just one of the statements above gives us this: One can, the other can. Both the brave and the fearful can. What's the difference?

Don't be fooled. The brave know fear. They just prepare themselves to resist it daily. They use awareness to resist the infectious, comforting, contagious nature of fear. So can you. The brave know all about fear. They just understand it in its entirety.

The brave understand fear is more of an obstacle to opportunity than anything else. The brave understand this: Nothing we have that fear tells us we could lose, is ours. The brave have learned that what is achieved through bravery can only be maintained through bravery and what is achieved through fear can only be maintained through fear.

The simple story of life has two sides. One where we take hold of life with power and the other where we are held back and we cower. Fear infiltrates belief until you are unable to tell which choices lead to triumph and which ones lead to personal tragedy.

No one wants to be fooled on April Fools' Day even if it's just for fun.
When the trick is self-imposed and fear becomes the default choice come decision time, then April fears can occur anytime of the year. That kind of fear ain't no joke.