I’ve lain awake at night, hearing their rumble in the distance. Doubting my ability to lead or navigate safe passage through them. I’ve come upon them more suddenly and been taken aback at their violence. I’ve worried. I’ve been afraid. But in every case, our group has accepted the challenge, scouting, pondering, planning, doing—running the gauntlet to the best of our skill and ability. Or, sometimes, accepting a different version of the challenge, executing a sometimes difficult, always strenuous portage, climbing steep terrain, mucking through mud, hacking through deadfalls, simply persisting, however long it takes.

We face rapids ahead now. The challenge is before us, and there is no turning around or backing away. There may be many rapids, a whole series of them. And we will have to paddle and portage to get where we need to go. That’s the way wilderness journeys are. That’s the way life is. That’s where we are.

Sometimes I get questions regarding my posts, my speaking out, from friends and social media followers. Maybe you deserve some simple answers. Am I ever scared or frightened? Yes. Does this time—this challenge—ever seem overwhelming? Yes. Do I get abuse? Yes. Actual threats? Yes. Am I worried about that? Yes. But I have noticed that the fear feels a lot like the feeling in the pit of my stomach used to feel at midnight in the wilderness, when I heard rapids rumbling miles away. Or when I confronted their roar up close and in person. It’s not much different, if different at all. And that is somehow reassuring. There are some quotes, some good and wise observations, I have gathered over the years about fear. Sources of strength and inspiration. An old Finnish saying: ‘Worry gives a small thing a big shadow.’ Eleanor Roosevelt: ‘Courage is more exhilarating than fear, and in the long run it is easier. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.’ Helen Keller: ‘Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.’ Franklin Roosevelt: ‘The only thing we have to fear is… fear itself.’

So, there are rapids ahead, in our national journey. In our personal journeys. We will face them, we will run them, we will plan and power through them. We will portage past them. Today, April 19, is a big day. A good day to run rapids. There will be many more ahead. And we can face them all.

(This is my newest Substack post. You can follow/subscribe to me there at Notes From The Campfire@douglaswoodauthor)