Perhaps the most important ability for a person to possess is the ability to overcome fear
and to progress life with more fortitude. Until I was the age of seven years old, I was not able to
achieve this competence. I was never able to cope with apprehension during stressful situation
causing me to be captured under the grasp of fear. However, all this changed one day when an
incident arose, completely crumbling all my emotions. I had to learn how to control my feelings,
passions, and life all over again.
It all happened six years ago, on a snowy night. My family was driving back home from
the local grocery store all throughout which I was musing about recent interest- helping the
environment. This obsession was similar to all of my past and most likely future ones in the
sense that they are all temporary. This night, I was in the beginning part of the interim phase,
meaning that I completely focused on my goals. As we drove into to the driveway, I had thought
of a pliable idea- reduce the amount of time the car is on, to reduce fuel emissions. This was the
dawn of my inevitable apprehension.
Minutes after we pulled in, my mother had taken my sister inside, and my dad had
brought the second load of groceries inside. I thought that it had been long enough, so I decided
to initiate my notion for helping the environment. I unbuckled my seat, bent over the storage

holder, and moved my hand towards the key in the ignition. There was a momentary doubt in my
mind about which way to turn the key in order to close the car, however, I resolved the dilemma
by turning it the way my dad always turned it. This way turned out to be incorrect. The car
immediately started to slowly drive backwards, the opposite of what should have occurred.
The amount of panic and fright that I had in that moment, was greater than that I had in
my entire life. I was afraid of what was going to happen next, whether it be colliding with the
neighbor’s garage, getting hit by a car, or something worse. At the eleventh hour, my dad came
out of the house, and was perplexed by what had happened. He did not waste a second to think,
so dashed out of the door to the car. However, there was no benefit. The car was a feathers wing
away from the neighbor’s garage. My heat dropped as I waited for the loud crash, but it never
came, only the soft rotating of the wheels. Before I was able to consider what happened, my dad
ran inside, turned the car off, and drove the car ahead.
As my dad parked the car, he told me to go inside while he checked the damage. I was
vigorously crying when my dad came inside, and told me, “Anubhav, don’t cry. There was no
damage to the garage or the car because the car had gotten stuck on a part of snow directly in
front of the garage. Trust me, don’t worry.”
Somewhat reassured, I wiped my tears, and said, “Dad, but I’m still scared what to I do?”
“Listen to me. Something like this had happened to me as well when I was young, but my
dad had told me to be strong and move on. I want you to not cry over this moment, but use it as a
learning lesson to be smarter in the future,” my dad assured me. I always followed my dad’s
directions, so I did this time as well.

That day, I had acquired an ability such that would aid me throughout life. I had
managed to conquer my fear and use it as a medium to advance life prudently. Although this one
accident was not great enough to shape my future, it was enough to strengthen it. After that
incident, I was able to understand Jack Canfield’s quote, “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on
the other side of fear.”