EMBRACE FEAR BY KEN POMERANZ

There I am sweating profusely, pacing frantically backstage wondering what I just got myself into. Peeking through the curtain, I unveil a crowd of 10,000 roaring as if it were a zoo at feeding time. Then, armed with a mic and a loose memorization of a speech I wrote earlier that day, I am ushered on stage.

I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t scared, but we all encounter fear everyday. Whether it manifests itself as nerves, anxiety, or a threat of physical, emotional, or social harm, fear is something we all face.

After all, how you stand up to your fear defines you. It’s the difference between you and what you could’ve been had you pursued all of the crazy dreams, radical thoughts, and far-reaching goals that you were told by yourself, or others you couldn’t achieve. For me, facing fear led me to this situation, standing on stage giving a speech to run for the second highest office in the largest and oldest student business organization in the world.

But facing fear isn’t enough– you must embrace it. Embracing fear is what motivates you to do the countless hours of work between deciding to do something and pulling it off. Sometimes, like in my case, embracing fear is deciding to throw all of that hard work away, challenging process, and pursuing something better.

To truly embrace fear, you must stare it in the face, acknowledge it and continue on. You must utilize it to make you work hard and account for all variables. You must let it remove confirmation bias, and let you be honest with yourself. And most importantly, you must let it go when it is time to perform.