The thought of being afraid to live seems odd, even laughable, at first glance. But how many of you feel like you are just getting by, just making it, just holding on? Are you living life or just merely existing? Do you live life to the fullest?

People who are afraid to live are caught up in their past and are afraid to let go. They fear that the more they live, the more unhappy they become. Taking the example of somebody who has just been ditched. He/she will refuse to go out to meet a new partner because he/she is caught in a web of anger and frustration. One can say that he/she is technically afraid of living a new life because his/her mind is still stuck in the past events. One can also argue that the issue is not about fear as much as it is about being stubborn to change or not knowing how to change. Then again the inability to change whether it is knowledge or emotionally related can be related to the fear of what change may bring. When our fear of living turns into a fear of suffering, we feel that it is better to live less, so as to suffer less. Look inside yourself, see what is there and ask yourself if this is how you feel.

Many of us are too frightened to enter into our lives and live it fully, with complete presence of mind, heart and body, with unbridled passion and zest. We do not trust life enough to let it possess us. Life holds too much pain, too many disappointments, so much shame, anger and guilt; we would rather stay in our comfort zone, let our days pass by as we ‘mark time’ and retain a certain distance, so that we may remain safe. We observe our days moving along but we are too timid to become one with them, to be fully encompassed by them.

Daring to live means daring to die at each moment. It also means daring to be born, daring to pass through important stages in life when the person you used to be dies, in order to make room for the new you with a new view of the world. It is a case of being more and more aware that each moment you are born and you die, you die and you are reborn.

To put it simply, daring to live also means no longer having the slightest fear of what we feel. We are afraid of what we bear inside because we cannot fully count on ourselves; we know from experience that we tend to get ourselves into situations which we end up bitterly regretting.

I am tired of living my life in fear. It made me realise that I don’t want to always be afraid to say or do something because that way I wouldn’t be living life to the fullest. Being aware that I could die tomorrow, helps me to acknowledge the importance of today. Thus, living life to the fullest for me is making sure I enjoy every single day. Enjoyment is very subjective, of course. For me, enjoyment is cleaning my fish tanks, feeding my fishes and sitting down to watch them.

Living without fear, living with wholeness, will increases our quality of life. It brings happiness. Fear acts as a brake and prevents us from doing what we want to do; it doesn’t allow our energy to flow and weakens our well-being and health in general.

Learn how to become strong in your own right, how to stop comparing yourself to others. Learn to know yourself, heal the wounds and let go of the pain. You can enjoy happiness right now. Don’t waste a second!