On our way to East Coast Park, he said, "I'm afraid."

"What are you afraid of?" I asked.

"I don't know," he replied, "Everything?"

Without even thinking, I said, "Life is too short to be lived in fear."

And then I paused to consider my own words and was taken aback by them. Yes. Why didn't I see that. Or rather, why haven't I said that to myself before.

I am afraid of the dark. Afraid of lizards. Afraid of heights. Afraid of rejection. Afraid of expectations. Afraid of pain. Afraid of love. Afraid of change. There are a great many things I cannot handle. I break easily. And yet, I have but this one life. It would be such a terrible waste to live in numbed languishing shadows, and not take in the fluctuating crashing wave of each emotion, every little jagged nuance which the human body, the mind, and the living beating heart was made for and prepared to experience deeply.

Rise up, light up. You are stronger than you think.