Photo cred. palten.se

When I was younger, I use to do a lot of crazy things, without regard for my wellbeing or others. I think a lot of people can recognize that reckless stage in our lives when we are in our youth.

But as we grow up we become more aware, and when we start getting families, we want to know, even more, everything “bad” going on in the world so that we can keep our precious ones safe?

We let fear rule our judgment, and we start living in routines in our comfort zone. Often not do something out of the ordinary.

For me, we have a family wedding coming up in Chicago, and my aunt has invited us to join them for the celebrations. My husband has been looking at the plane ticket and was having a hard time fitting the trip departures with his work. He asked me the other day how much I wanted to go to the Chicago so that he could arrange something. I told him that I didn’t know if I wanted to go since they got that strict border control, and my last name is Ek-Sarfraz. I just can bear the thought about the risk, of being stopped and questioned about my visit for an hour. Bringing my toddler along, who would be exhausted after such long travel.
That would not be comfortable for my family or me.

That’s even after I have decided to face my fear and not be in the comfort zone this year. I still find myself fall back into the comforting pattern.

But once in a while, somebody does something out of the ordinary, and it leave us speechless.

Like this video with this Swedish woman who decides to put all prejudice at stake and runs through Iran.

Alone through Iran – 1144 miles of trust

Video by Arash Shakourzadeh

I remember when the video first came out I couldn’t stop thinking about how an ordinary person could make such a big impact in changing the image of a country, but she did because she chose to step out of her comfort zone and face her fear.

What have you done to face your fear?