When life hands us a new challenge, we are often told to “face our fears” head on. Sounds like great advice, but it rarely comes with an instruction book. What exactly does it mean to face our fears? Are we supposed to suck it up and jump in the pool before we learn to swim? Do we take that proverbial deep breath, close our eyes and leap into the abyss? Does the statement itself suggest that our fear makes us weak? Fear has been a part of human nature since the beginning of time, and it was pretty dang protective when running from large predators. That said, the predators and the sources of our fear have evolved over the ages. I like to think that these days facing our fears means that we take that deep breath but pause before leaping. We pause and take the time to figure out what we’re afraid of. Are we scared of the impact of change, are we frightened of something specific, or is it a general fear of the unknown? We don’t need to leap, we simply need to take that first step and to see that fear is not a weakness. It is a guidepost that directs us from darkness into light, from confusion to clarity, from drowning in a pool of our emotions to floating in the serenity of comprehension. A wise man once said that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Maybe even fear itself need not be feared but rather be seen as an opportunity for greater understanding.