“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear

– not absence of fear.”

-Mark Twain

A couple months ago my husband and I went to Maui to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. One of my most favorite things we did while we were there was the scenic drive to the Haleakala Summit. Haleakala is a 1.1 million year old volcano that forms 75% of Maui and has an elevation of 10,023 ft. Usually, I am not afraid of heights at all, but on this particular drive my fears got the best of me.

After an hour of switch backs and blind curves, and literally driving through clouds, my nerves were at their peak. My heart was racing as if I’d just finished a 5K. My sweaty palms were clenched so tightly to the door handle that my husband kept looking at me, asking if I was ok and if I wanted to stop and turn back. Once we got to the national park gate, I thought to myself “Yes, OMG I did it” … then the gate guard turns to us and says, “Ok you’ve got about another 30 minutes more to go.”

I thought I was going to burst into tears.

My husband looked over at me and said, “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to. We can stop right here, take a break and turn back.”

I looked at him and sighed, “No, we need to keep going.”

Even though every part of me just wanted to close my eyes and wish us back down at sea level.  He held my sweaty palms in his, looked at me and said, “I won’t let anything happen to us.” and we drove forward … and of course the switch backs, got more frequent, the blind curves were more blind, the guard rails that reminded you were the edge of the road was, disappeared leaving no barrier between you and the clouds.

When we finally reached the summit, my wobbly knees were more then happy to feel solid ground and we walked over to where all the other bystanders were and saw a thin layer of fog, and wondered what everyone was looking it. Then, like a dreamy fog lifting from a sleepy forest, the clouds disappeared and revealed the most amazing thing I’ve seen in my life. It was like looking at a different planet!

I realized right there that it was all worth it. Honestly, my anxiety and having to work through it during the drive, made that view even more special to me. Some times it’s the things that we work hardest at that are the most rewarding. So the next time you are scared to move forward and to jump into your next adventure remember to master your fear and get out of your own way. It’s when we believe in ourselves and in our abilities that we can conquer anything.

Want to read more stories on how to celebrate and embrace your #sentimentallife? Check out these wonderful people: Tori Pintar, Jessica Eileen, Rachel Abelson, Cindy Harter, Jen Snyder, Amanda Red, Gregory Byerline, Debbie Leanne