Don’t Be Afraid

Here is the world: beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.

– Frederick Buechner

I came across this quotation as I was both deep into therapy, and working through how to help others at the same time. I had a lot of grief over lost opportunities, and was coming to terms with what felt like a wasted life. I found a lot of peace in this simple statement, life will always be a lot of things, it will be terrible, but it will also be beautiful. I’d known that to be true, and I’ve seen it be true since then.

Being afraid to experience the terrible times makes it hard to notice, experience, and remember the beautiful times. A lot of quotations that speak to me are about this, about accepting the messy moments, because we can’t control them, or if we do, we lose our capacity to accept the joyful moments.

Don’t be afraid.