We are happy to welcome Julie Coulter Bellon to our Guest Author Thursday feature. She is the author of several international intrigues and her most recent novel, All Fall Down, was released just last month.

For more about Julie and her books, visit her BLOG and find her on TWITTER and Facebook.

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What Do We Have to Fear?

With the Halloween season upon us, I’ve been thinking a bit about what I’m afraid of. Spiders, snakes, and heights come to mind immediately.

One time, my children were in our backyard playing and our dog started barking in a really strange way. I can only describe it as urgent. Since I’d never heard her bark like that before I went to the back door to peek out and check on things and she was barking at a four foot snake lying in our grass. I quickly got my children indoors, and the dog, then I called Animal Control. When the Animal Control officer came, he got out a long stick with a loop at the end and as he wrangled the snake, even he was surprised at how vicious it was. “Most blow snakes don’t do this,” he told me, as I cringed from my door, ready to slam it if the snake even twitched in my direction. He finally wrestled it into a bag and the snake was still thrashing. He held the bag out in front of him and came toward me. I quickly realized he wanted to come through the house to get to the front door and my mind went to, “Oh, let me get the gate for you,” because there was no way that snake was actually going to come into my house–bag or not. I closed that door quickly.

And once, when we were in Paris, we went to the Eiffel Tower and started for the top. The higher we got, the more uncomfortable I became because of my fear of heights, but there was a crush of people so it made me feel a little more secure. When we were at the very top, though, when my husband and I had our own little corner, I ventured to look over at the incredible view. My stomach lurched and I felt dizzy so I stepped back. But then my husband took my hand and I was able to take that step, and then another, and finally look over and see the view of Paris that couldn’t be seen any other way. It was an experience I won’t soon forget and I was so glad I hadn’t let my fear of heights prevent me from it.

I think we’re all like that sometimes. We let our fear of rejection or insecurity keep us from going after our dreams. We wonder whether we’re good enough and maybe become like I was, at my back door, ready to slam it if anything scary or unknown looked my way. So instead of letting something new or unknown in, I shut the door. And like the Eiffel tower I let things get comfortable and masked my fear by insulating it with other people or things to help myself feel more secure. I distracted myself from my goals. But then suddenly your goal is right in front of you. You’re at the top. You’re out of your comfort zone, and all you have to do is reach out to take the opportunity, to face your fear. You take that step forward, but you’re unsure. Can I do it? Then, even when you get up the courage to do it, the old fears begin to take hold again and you feel sick. You step back.

Well, today I want to take on the role of my husband when I was at the top of the Eiffel tower as he offered me his hand. I want to be your Eleanor Roosevelt when she said, “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.” Each experience strengthens us, prepares us, gives us courage to face the fear to overcome it. Today, I’m offering you my hand. You are good enough. You can do this, you can accomplish the goal you have in mind. It’s going to be hard. There will be times when you will feel like crying and wonder why you’re even doing this at all. But when you take that step forward and then another one, until finally you see the view from the top of your goals and dreams, you will be so glad you did. Just like I was.

So I’m getting out my pompoms (and that is a big deal my friends) to say, what are you waiting for? You can do it. You can climb your Eiffel tower, you can face that thrashing snake. You can. (Did you see me jumping up and down and cheering? Good.)

Go get ‘em.

Julie Coulter Bellon is the mother of eight children and the author of eight books. Her favorite things in the world are the number eight, reading, writing and fun family dinners. She also loves to travel and read and blog. You can read more about her at http://ldswritermom.blogspot.com

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Thank you so much, Julie!

What are you afraid of? Have you ever stepped back when you should have stepped forward? Who is your biggest cheerleader?