Fear

“We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face…we must do that which we think we cannot.” –Eleanor Roosevelt

When we are younger our biggest fear is that the monsters living under our beds are going to  come out from underneath and eat us.  As we grow older we forget about the monsters under our beds and realize that the true monsters, our fears, lie inside of us. 
We all have fears, whether it is something as small as the fear of not acing an exam to something as big as not knowing whether we will get into your college of choice.  Whatever our fears are we start to realize our parents are no longer there to comfort us when we are feeling lost or scared. Facing our fears is something we simply have to face by ourselves now. 

Last week I had to face a fear one on one; on my own.  speaking up against adults who have a higher authority than me.  If I weren’t already stressed out about school and college applications, failing a class is something that can add even more stress.  On Wednesday of last week I had to have a conference with the board of the math department at my school to talk about, not just my grade, but the grades of my fellow classmates, as well. The majority of my peers are failing and it was up to me to stand up for all of us. I found out this year that finding my voice was even harder than finding myself in high school. 

As I walked out of the meeting a feeling of achievement overwhelmed me. I had survived! 

Later that night I realized that sometime our biggest fears really aren't as big as we make them seem. 

As Elanor's husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt, said in his first inaugural address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."