Courage

Courage is not the absence of fear, but doing what needs to be done even if we are afraid. This past summer my sister, a friend, and I all faced one of our fears.
Now fears are different for everyone. I laugh at my sister's fear. Not because I am a mean person, although that point could be argued, but because what she is so afraid of is so much fun for me. On the flip side, she also would laugh at my fear -- along with the majority of adults in the world.
My sister is afraid to pull a bike trailer with her bike. I love to do this. I love to go bike riding with my family. Having two children that don't know how to ride, makes the trailer a valuable asset. It doesn't scare me a bit. I do prefer my husband to pull it when he is there because I like to have an easier ride; but that has nothing to do with fear. This summer my sister conquered her fear. We hooked up the trailer. We got the kids' bikes ready. Put the little ones in the trailer and with her pulling we rode away. She did it! Good for her.
A friend of ours decided to drive to Chicago. Driving through and in big cities is a little intimidating for many people. She faced this fear, and drove. I remember when we drove across the country form Oregon to New York when I was a teenager. I had just received my license a few months before the trip. When we got to the Chicago area, my mom decided she had better drive. Years later, she lets us do the driving while she sits. My first experience driving downtown Chicago taught me that traffic lights and lanes really don't mean a whole lot. I can see why this could be intimidating.
But I am afraid of electricity. Now some people may have a reasonable fear of being electrocuted and reasonably not put knives into electrical outlets, or turn off the electricity when wiring. I, on the other hand, have an unreasonable fear of electricity. I do not use electric blankets and I had never hooked up the jumper cables to a dead battery on a vehicle.
My sister-in-law used to have an electric blanket and when I would visit I would stay away. I picture myself being wrapped up in a cocoon of blanket, zapped again and again. My body jerking violently to the shock of the blanket of electricity that I am being surrounded by. I still do not use electric blankets, but my chiropractor said it could mess with the electrons in my body, so now I have a good excuse. Although he also says my son might remember his math facts if he gets his head adjusted, and that people have been cured of the fear of dark spaces with a few taps to the skull -- so can I trust him?
But the battery? I have no excuse. I have been stranded in a parking lot with a dead battery and unable to hook up the cables. After someone who had parked there had volunteer their car, I had to go back inside the building and get help to hook up the cables. Paranoia. I have had my eight year old son jump the vehicle instead of me. He on the other hand is a little too fearless at times, but he does well. So this summer I decided to stop being controlled by electricity.
Thankfully we have had our share of battery problems, so I had opportunity to practice. I opened the hood fine. I got out the jumper cables. Then my boldness began to waver. I attached the cables to the dead battery first -- less electricity there. And then, the moment... would I triumph? Seriously it scared me to just squeeze, bend over and clamp. Simple, but I hesitated, and then... I did it! For the first time in my whole life I jump started a vehicle!
Do I like it? No. Do I want to do it again? Not really. Now did I conqueror it? I really don't think so, but my husband says doing what you are afraid of is conquering your fear. So, I have triumphed over electricity; I have triumphed over my fear.