A man told me he panics in water. Recently, he vacationed with his wife to the beach. He went out into the waters further than he felt secure, and a wave took his feet out from under him. He banged and bashed all sides of his body against the ocean floor. He became completely disoriented – not knowing which direction would take him to air or to hell.

His wife pulled him out of the water as he gasped the breath he resided seconds prior would never be afforded to him. “You idiot!” she screamed. “It is only three feet deep here - all you had to do was stand up!”

“To think,” he told me dryly, “I nearly died in shallow waters because I was too scared to realize all I had to do was stand up.” The man took a sip of his beer and looked down at the table.

I could tell the reality of his fear scared him more than the ocean. Maybe what we fear is nothing compared to what we miss by fearing so much.