Fear

Fear is a poison that kills many dreams and aspirations. I want to remind you that fear is only an illusion. Don't get me wrong danger is a very real thing, but fear is not, fear is a choice that you make. I want you to think of what is it that you're afraid of, and I'm not talking about spiders, snakes, or enclosed spaces I'm talking about those irrational fears that are stopping you from doing what you like and what you love. I don't know exactly how you life is but I know deep inside there are things you truly would like to do but you're not doing because you're scared. And you may say scared of what? I'm not scared. But you are! you're afraid of so many things:

• you fear you will fail
• that you're not good enough
• that you don't measure up
• that you wont be able to handle it
• that there are people who are better than you
• that you're not perfect
• that your dreams are impossible to reach

I'm here to tell you that is okay to be afraid, what is not okay is that you let your fear to take over your life and let it stop you from reaching your full potential. Don't ever be afraid of failure, failure is not the opposite of success, failure is what you must go thru to get to success. You must not let fear paralyze you from achieving what you want or you will never push yourself harder, to be the best you can be. You not only have to face your fear but you have to stand up to it and fight thru whatever obstacle comes your way to become better and to grow.

Every year for the past couple of years I've dreamt of making a horror themed magic show, yet every year I come up with excuses why that year I didn't make it happen, honestly every time I'm afraid of all the things that could happen, perhaps Ill loose all my money on a show no one will pay to see, or maybe it will be horrible and nobody will like it, perhaps something goes wrong and I end up injuring myself or someone else, or maybe just maybe is an amazing success and I just cannot handle it because I wasn't prepared. 

Last year an opportunity that would practically risk my job came about. I meet someone in my town that makes this haunted attraction here in downtown Fayetteville, NC. called "Lafayette Insane Asylum" I talked to him about my ideas to make an attraction myself and at that moment I asked him if it was possible if I could perform magic for the people that were in line waiting to go in at no charge. He said yes of course that would be awesome in fact he said ill build you a stage. This was it an opportunity to do what I've been wanting to do, of course I wasn't getting paid and of course I wasn't at all completely ready but here it was a chance to do what I love. 

I meet him on a Saturday and thought about all the things I could perform and all the things I would need, but time was ticking, if I truly was going to do it, I had to get ready fast because the haunted trail opened on that Thursday. As I was putting together a machine at my workplace on Tuesday I pondered of all the things that could go wrong, and all the money I would have to put on this show that would only last three nights and would bring me nothing in return, as all these fears of failure went across my mind, it hit me. A sense of peace and courage came over me reminding me of my dreams. If it wasn't now, then when? when was I going to start doing what I loved, and what I liked, so that very day I talked to my boss about how I had to leave at that very instant. And so I did, I left the job that I had for 4 or 5 years risking losing what I had worked for, for three nights...

And so I left that  job and I worked hard all day on my show and then the next day and then that night, reminding myself that things would work out because it was up to me to make them work out. I decided I couldn't be afraid of what could happen because I was in charge of my life. And so I performed, hammering nails in my nose, escaping strait jackets, conjuring spirits of dead kids, playing Russian roulette with a razor blade and playing five finger fillet, it was great I would end the day exhausted but with a satisfaction that cant be compared.

The show went great, people really enjoyed it, even though the first night the way it was set up some people would stand in front of the entrance and couldn't really see the stage. I would get off the stage and bring the show to them. I learned so much from those shows, my family and friends saw amounts of confidence that they had not seen before. I ended up out of the job I had, but the experience I gained I wouldn't change it for the world.

Here is a short clip from the show that I featured on The Loko Magic Show in which I was attacked by none other than Freddy Krueger:

Thank you for reading, no go out and be fearless! Don't let anything stop you from reaching your dreams!