Conquering fear

 Conquering fear
Everyone regardless of their status or age has something that he or she is afraid of, whether they admit it or not. Jane and Lisa are good friends who work at a restaurant as waiters. They met at the work place and had much in common. Jane is an artist whereas Lisa is a musician. Both of them attended the same college, however, Jane pursued accounting, which is different from her passion. Lisa pursued music at college. Although Jane and Lisa have much in common, there was one thing that contrasted the two. Jane was a good artist but was always afraid to show off her art to her parents and other audiences. This is perhaps her parents had taken her to school to study accounting and she was afraid to fail them. Lisa was a good musician and readily demonstrated her skills to anyone who showed interest. Jane would not let fear control her life for long because an event would happen to her as she took a walk one evening that would change her life.

One afternoon Jane realized that she had let fear steal her dream and control her life. During that day, Jane and Lisa had free time that they decided to spend visiting an art gallery in the city. The art presented in the art gallery was beautiful as Lisa commented and Jane concurred with her observations. As they move through the gallery, Lisa suggested to Jane that she should consider displaying her art in the gallery because it is just as good as the ones on display. A particular painting of a sunset against a lakeshore made Lisa think of Janes paintings. Janes response to this suggestion is that her painting was not as good. Lisa would have none of it, she insisted but Jane continued to refuse saying that the people who visit the gallery may not like the art or even may laugh at her paintings. Jane was afraid of humiliating herself. This irrational fear made her incapable of pursuing her dreams even when it is obvious to those around her that she has good talent.
After leaving the art gallery that evening, Jane came across a man who had learnt the hard way the results of letting fear control his life. When Jane and Lisa were done admiring the paintings in the art gallery, they each went their separate ways. Jane decided to take a walk just for leisure to relax and think. As she was walking down deserted road, she came across some teenager boys assaulting an elderly homeless man. The old man was moaning from pain as the boys kicked and pushed him around. Jane could have none of it, she approached the scene and threatened to call the police is if the boys did not stop. The boys took off running leaving the homeless man on the ground. The man was bleeding from his forehead. To stop the bleeding, Jane gave the man her handkerchief to press against the wound. Just as Jane was about to leave, she realized a violin case belonging to the man on the ground. After a short conversation, the man revealed the violin was a gift when he was a boy. The man narrated how his fear of rejection killed his dream and how he regrets his inactions. The homeless man let fear steal his dream.
This was a life-changing story for Jane. Although Jane did not play the violin, she found that the feeling that the man had described he had during his youthful years are the same Jane was feeling. She realized that she refused to take her paintings to the art gallery she had visited with Lisa earlier because she was afraid. She was afraid of failure, which limited her from ever trying. Her failure to try made sure that she failed without even a slight chance of success. Jane decided to change her life for the better. Take evening she went back to her house and took stock of her life. She realized how fear had ruled not only he artist career, but also other sectors of her life, such as her intimate relationship. She decided to change her life for the better. One month later, she was back at the gallery now displaying her paintings. She revived other sectors of her life, such as her relationship with her boyfriend who accompanied her to the art gallery the day she displayed her art. Jane overcame her fear and changed her life for the better.