Dan Tyminski plays guitar in Alison Krauss’ band, Union Station. Union Station, including Alison, is a world-class band. Dan has been a member since 1994. He tells a story about being asked by Ms. Krauss to join her band as a guitar player. There was only one problem. He wasn’t really a guitar player. Banjo? Yes. Mandolin? Sure, proficient. But guitar? Not so much.
He confesses he knew chords, but not much else. So he spent some months in a shed teaching himself. All the while facing whatever fears he may have had. Shutting up the voices in his head that may have said, “Dan, you idiot. You can’t do this. You can’t go on the road or in the studio with Alison Krauss as her guitar player. Give it up, dude.” No, Tyminski apparently didn’t listen to any of those fears. He just got busy learning to play the guitar. One man. One guitar. One shed.
Magic does happen when men face their fear by refusing to surrender to it. Now, Dan hears crowds applaud. But it could have turned out so much differently had he never hit that shed with the tenacity to be able to tell Alison, “Sure, I’d love to be your guitar player.”
Fear takes on many forms. It morphs like the cyborg assassin chasing John Connor.
And it can be just as tough. In every way.
People wake up in the morning afraid of something. They lay awake at night worrying. Shadows, clouds and stormy weather don’t much care if you’re wide awake or sleepy. Fear is like a roach. It can thrive in any environment. It only needs a brain. The brain need not be rational, bright or highly intelligent. Any old brain will do. As long as it’s alive.
Vision is blurred when the corridor of fear is closing in. It doesn’t matter that clear skies are at the end of the hall. We often struggle to see that proverbial light at the end. Those shadows are in high def though. We can see them in vivid detail. 3-D even.
They change shapes as we embrace their closeness. Sometimes they take form as the risk of failure. Other times they’re the possible outcome of success. From one extreme to the other we embrace our fears and use them as excuses preventing us from what we claim we really want.
Sit down with anybody willing to acknowledge their fear and you sense their pulse accelerating. Their fingertips grow cold. And even if don’t feel it, you can almost see the knots form in their gut. Don’t let anybody tell you that fear isn’t real. It’s very real. Your body’s response proves it.
Our rational minds can fail us. Deception. Delusion. Imagination. Those are the fuel sources for our fears.
Questions can bring clarity because they demand answers. Deny answering at your own risk. If you do, fear will overtake you, run you down like a crazed trucker, beat you with chains and leave your dead carcass as a reminder for the rest of us…that it means business! Of course, it’ll all be a figment of our imagination, but we’re certain we can smell dead flesh.
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