Don’t be afraid of your fears

Editor's note: Daren Schumaker of Cedar Rapids and Dennis Lee of Walford are attempting to run across Iowa's 99 counties to raise money and awareness for the American Heart Association. They've completed 97 counties. This is No. 92. Next: Howard

By Daren Schumaker, community contributor

For some it's the dark. For others its heights, spiders or clowns.

Even Indiana Jones was afraid of snakes.

The fact is each of us is afraid of something that figuratively scares us to death - whether it be the fear of starting or the fear of finishing, the fear of changing or the fear of staying the same, or the fear of failing or the fear of succeeding. Fear has become such an ingrained part of our world's culture that some have started to fear the concept of fear, often to their detriment and the detriment of others.

On March 4, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke his 'firm belief” that 'the only thing we have to fear is ... fear itself.” Roosevelt's words no doubt rang true in the context of his first inaugural address during the failing economy of the Great Depression, but is fear something that should really warrant our fear? More importantly, are our fears worthy of the time and energy that we allow them to consume as we ponder how anxious, stressed and worried we can become by simply thinking about heights, spiders or clowns? The answer to this question - I can faithfully say - is quite simple. No. Fear isn't something one should fear.

On June 25, we shuffled out of Walford under the cover of darkness and were soon screaming south on Highway 218 and then edging east on Highway 34. At 6:25 a.m. we had arrived at the western border of Des Moines County on Highway 79, an unusual county line in that it was literally the tree line of Geode State Park. With the trees of Henry County's Geode State Park at our backs, we eased into the day's run and soon realized, just as we had feared, we hadn't beat the heat as much as we had wanted.

Before 7 a.m. we had already started to drip with sweat as we approached Middletown where we took a brief detour to take in the sights, the highlights being many empty lots of freshly mowed grass, hundreds of acres of land surrounded by an eight-foot tall razor wire-toped chain link fence, and an Iowa Army National Guard Ammunition Plant.

On the eastern edge of Middletown we shot north on South Prairie Grove Road, running under Highway 34 and passing a dirt racetrack on our left as our footing transitioned from asphalt to gravel. Our surroundings also transitioned from farm fields to rolling hills covered with pastures and a fair amount of timber. South Prairie Grove Road twisted and turned northwest for several miles, a few of which were shaded by the aforementioned timber, before ending at Beaverdale Road.

We took a right on aptly named Beaverdale Road and followed the pavement in front of us to the east as we completed our 13th mile. Soon Beaverdale Road took us in a more southerly direction and we found ourselves in, you guessed it, Beaverdale. We headed east on Washington Road as we completed our 18th mile, passing an elk farm before newly blacktopped Washington Road turned south toward Mount Pleasant Street, which we took east. Before long we were in West Burlington where we stopped at the Our Lady of Grace Grotto to admire two gigantic seashells - one from the Atlantic Ocean and one from the Pacific Ocean. We continued east through downtown West Burlington and past the home of the Burlington Bees and into Burlington, where we ran downhill before dancing north along North Central Avenue and through a neighborhood where we descended another large hill onto Des Moines Avenue.

The heat of the day, which was now well above 90 degrees, began to take its toll as we started to run along a trail we thought was going to take us south toward downtown, but instead took us north and forced us to turn around and run back toward Des Moines Avenue. We stumbled back to Bluff Road, summited a huge hill and soon found the trail we had been looking for along the banks of the mighty Mississippi River. Weak from the heat, we completed our 25th mile as we entered downtown, stopping only briefly before literally charging up Columbia Street and past Cobble Stone Alley to Snake Alley, where we turned a total of approximately 1,100 degrees as we gradually descended to Washington Street.

We returned to the Mississippi River and dipped our feet into the cool water, ending a 3:42:42 journey that started in the dark 26.2 miles from where we now stood at the conclusion of our 92nd county.

Fear isn't something to be feared. Too many of us tiptoe through life hoping we make it to death, avoiding what we are afraid of. That doesn't make any sense. Whether we allow it to dictate our lives or whether we face it head on, fear is always there. We have no choice but to accept that fact. However, listening to our fears is a choice we do have.

What purposes are served by listening to our fears? Anxiety? Stress? Worry? Fear lives in the future. Being afraid is real, but fear itself is but a figment of our imaginations as the future has not yet happened. Often our fears, when viewed from our rearview mirrors, seem small and hardly worthy of the time and energy we expended in anxiety, stress and worry. This is something that each of us must remember.

Live in the present, not the future where fear makes its home. However, if you can't seem to put your fears out of your mind, use them to fuel your fire. Ask yourself why you fear. Are you more afraid of starting or not starting, or of finishing or not finishing the goals you've set for yourself? Are you more afraid of changing or not changing your life, or of staying the same or not staying the same? Are you more afraid of failing or not failing, or of succeeding or not succeeding?

Fear isn't something one should fear. Don't be afraid of the twists and turns of life - even if they are just as harsh as the twists and turns of Snake Alley - because there really isn't anything to be afraid of. To fear or not to fear? That is the real question. You can only spend so much time looking back and forth before you step out of the shadows cast by your fears. Either you take that step or you don't. Looking will get you nowhere. Take that step, because on the other side of your fear is your freedom.

Inspiration through perspiration. Don't be afraid to get up, get active, and get busy living.

l To make a donation or buy a T-shirt, email Dennis Lee at telcoden@yahoo.com