This is a post about fear.

Fear is an almost ever-present force in my life. It has been since I can remember. 

"Hello, Fear. I see you there, hiding in the shadows and creeping around the edges of every happy moment. Just when it seems like I have met you, faced you, and sent you into the woods to die, you come back again stronger than you were before." 

I have always thought that the best way to deal with fear is to conquer it, thereby rendering it useless and taking away the power. This might work for some people better than it has for me or maybe it works better for some subjects more than others. Or maybe the way I've approached my fear is the problem. 

Thomas Moore writes about darkness and depression in his book, "Dark Nights of The Soul," but I think it applies to fear as well. 

"To be a person means that you are always becoming, and a dark night of the soul is one sign that you are alive." - Thomas Moore

Maybe my fear is simply a sign that I am alive? That I am becoming what is next.

This idea became more clear to me after meeting with a group of girlfriends and sharing this place of fear that I am living in, only to hear that they have all known that place too. It's not even a fear about a specific thing but more a fear about all of the things. A fear of not enough and too much, of who I am and who I am not, a fear of getting lost in the place of fear. 

In this fear though, there is light. There are cracks around the edges where I can hear the voice in my heart whispering that I am, I have, and I can. 

The title of this post is "make space to let the light in." These true and deep words were spoken by a friend, encouraging me that in this place, there is always room to let the light in. 

She did not know about our Happy Rebel products, the candle and the scent that I chose to call "Light" so many months ago. She didn't know what Happy Rebel means to me, the embrace of the dark and the light. Those words were themselves a light for me. 

Where can you let a little light in? Where can you be a light for someone else? Where can you be grateful for the dark, as well?