Embrace your fear. Imagine what you're most afraid of, touch it

In the words of Maria Ressa, “Embrace your fear. Imagine what you're most afraid of, touch it and hold it so that you rob it of its power,” we are given a teaching as sharp as a blade and as tender as a prayer. Fear is the shadow that stalks all mortals, yet Ressa commands us not to flee it, but to embrace it, to seize it with both hands, and in so doing to strip it of the dominion it holds over the soul. For that which is faced ceases to be master, and that which is held ceases to be untouchable.

The wisdom here is ancient: to confront fear is to transform it. Alexander the Great, before crossing into Asia, burned his ships so that retreat was impossible. His men trembled at the thought of defeat, but by embracing the very fear of destruction, they became invincible. Likewise, Ressa urges us not to ignore dread, nor to pretend it does not exist, but to stand before it boldly until its terror becomes familiarity, and its chains fall away.

Her words also remind us of the nature of power. Fear has no substance of its own; it thrives on avoidance and silence. When unchallenged, it grows monstrous, yet when touched—named, examined, and embraced—it withers. Just as a child learns that the dark hides no demon once a light is kindled, so too the adult learns that the specter of fear shrinks when grasped with courage.

Consider also the tale of Nelson Mandela, who, though imprisoned for decades, confessed that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. Each day he rose to face his captors, he embraced his fear of death and despair, and by doing so, he robbed the prison of its power. In time, the very thing that was meant to crush him instead prepared him to lead a nation into freedom.

Thus let this teaching endure: do not run from your fear, for it will only chase you. Do not bury it, for it will only grow. Instead, take it in your hand as one takes a serpent, feel its weight, and learn its shape. For in touching it, you will see it for what it is—not a god, but a shadow. And once robbed of its power, fear becomes not your master, but your teacher, guiding you toward the strength that was within you all along.