Don't Be Scared to Live

I was listening to the song, Get Along, by Kenny Chesney the other day and was struck by one lyric.  First, I am big fan of the message of the song and you can read the chorus above.  Who wouldn't agree with that message?

If you read the lyrics, you will see at one part, Kenny sings "Scared to live, scared to die, we ain't perfect, but we try."

Scared to live.

I thought about that one lyric as I listened to the song and found myself asking the question, "Am I scared to live?  What does that mean?"

As I thought on it for a while, it became clear that there have been times in my life, where I have been scared to live.  Times, where I have been scared or stopped short of stepping out or standing up.  As I have gotten older and learned more about who I am and dug deep into what I truly believe - as well as have chosen my values and principles, it has been much easier to NOT be scared to live.  

Over the years, I have developed an unshakable faith in myself and the power I have as an individual - the power we all have as individuals.  And because of this, I am no longer afraid to be me.  I am not afraid to step out.  I am not afraid to be criticized or disliked.  Most importantly, I am not afraid to stand up for what I believe in.

And it truly feels like a giant weight has been lifted.  Fear is a giant albatross that weighs us down.  It keeps us from becoming our best self and who we are meant to be.  But, in order to conquer this fear and not be scared to live, we must learn to love ourselves and have faith in who we are.

In today's world of cancel culture and demonizing of people because they say or believe something different than a group or movement, it is important, now, more than ever to find ourselves and not be scared to live.  We must have the conversations, the uncomfortable ones.  We must be willing to stand firm for what we believe in.  And we have to be OK with the fact that not everyone will like us, but we must put in the effort to "get along."  

If we do, we will find that on about 90% of things, we agree. People will never agree on everything.  It's what makes us unique and creates the amazing world we live in.   And when we realize that, I hope we will have the bigger realization that we should not destroy each other over the 10% when there is so much that we have in common.

Always give love the upper hand.  Paint a wall, learn to dance, call you mom, buy a boat, drink a beer, sing a song, make a friend, can't we all just get along?

Don't be scared to live!