Fear is what keeps me
Locked inside this space
Afraid to move forward
Too afraid to take a step
So I stay idled in my place.
Comparing lives
Thinking I wish I could be there too
But worried about the outcome
That is so far from view.
Do I have what it takes really?
To step outside my shadow
It keeps me trapped in old thoughts and patterns. My habits don’t lie.
It tells me who I am now
Not who I could be
The leader
The teacher
The poet
The photographer
The writer
The creator
I know I am to be
But no matter what
My shadow follows close behind me
Reminding me always that fear
Is in back and never in front of me.
Melissa Stein 
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