“Feel the fear, and do it anyway.”

“Feel the fear, and do it anyway.”

Have you ever had a time where you had to take a risk, even a small risk that may have been nothing to others but hard for you? Everyone has their own fear and a way to get rid of it. To me, I felt fear towards participation. To others, it is a daily thing for them to raise their hand and participate. However to me, it is on of my fears. Fear takes in courage, and it consists of being confident and loud. Even though you may not be loud, most of the people in classes seem to participate, except me. In my parent teacher conferences for the past 5 years, I have heard the same comment over and over for every single class. 

“It would be better if Seung Min could participate more during class.”

My parents know this as well, and it was nothing surprising to them, as it had been a fear of mine from first grade. Shyness or having less confidence in myself is the main reason to my fear. I have known this for years and years, and it has always been in my “New Year Goals.” People may tell you, all you need to do is raise your hand if you know the answer. To me, being able to raise my hand first and participate is like jumping down from a high building. The tightness inside me and the fear of getting it wrong, or just talking in front of the class frights me. I have tried to overcome my fears, but as always, fear is something you cannot get rid of easily. When I see people shooting their hand up in the air, expressing their thoughts or contributing ideas to the topic, all I think is ‘I wish I could be like that.’ It may be a fear I may not be able to improve, but it can be something I can get rid of little by little, one at a time.