MY DATE WITH FEAR

Yesterday I came face to face with one of my fears. There is no telling how miserable I was having to confront my fear. I was trembling with enormous fear and was wishing that it was already tomorrow. I, in my weakness wanted to appear brave in front of my sisters. In my mind, this torture was never-ending because each second was like an hour in my eyes. I could feel the coarseness in my throat because the fear had dried up any form of lubrication from my throat. For a moment, thoughts were flooding through my mind. Even in my fears, Ayittey Powers came to mind. It was a case of "meeting my meeter". It felt like I was even at Napoleon Bonaparte's "waterloo" because the end to my self-styled confidence was imminent.Dear friends never force anyone to muster courage in the face of adversity the end results can be sometimes destructive. Ayittey Powers is therefore not to blame for his "Judgement Day" heavy drubbing, fear does that to people. Now to my situation, I was kneeling down in my mother's little backyard hencoop plotting how I was going to lay my hands on one chicken which was going to be used as our evening meal. I dread live chicken but I love chicken dishes. I always had people doing the dirty work for me. Yesterday of all days, all my "chicken assassins" had  left home for a party. My simple duty was to "arrest" the chicken and have my sisters do the rest. I am sure the chicken even sensed my cowardice and could smell the stench of my fear. I decided to go in for the kill and started stretching out my arms towards the chicken with "fear and trembling"....
 There always comes a moment in one's life when we have to confront our fears. Those moments sometimes hit us unaware when we are normally unprepared. Many people have their definitions for fear. These definitions are positive and negative. Believe you me, when that awkward moment arrives, these definitions mean next to nothing. Fears are our weak spots, things we probably haven't given a try or better still, something we failed at the first attempt. It limits us, belittles us and sometimes comes with a feeling of inferiority. Fear stops us from breaking new grounds. It is the second cousin to pessimism. I was not telling you this for you to laugh, I was telling you this to let you do a headcount of your fears and start planning on ways of breaking their hold on you. If you believe that FEAR equals False Evidence Appearing Real, then muster some courage and face them. There are times when other people fight our battles with fear on our behalf. We should ask ourselves what our reaction would be in a typical "worst case scenario"; when all these people are not around just like in my case. We all have something that gives us "the chills" no matter how strong or brave you are, there is something that takes away all your confidence. If we are made to believe that the mighty elephant is afraid of the mouse in our cartoons then it means greatness does not mean flawlessness. We cannot hide from our fears or run away from them forever. We can face our fears. It is not a one-time premium. It is sometimes a gradual process but it is worth it if you give it a try. The adrenaline rush involved is sometimes off the charts. Fear is good. My name is Edwin Oko Lamptey and this is a "fearful" R.A.T ( RANDOM AFRICAN THOUGHT).