I do not bow to shadows

Fear is an illusion, a shadow puppet dancing on the walls of my mind. convincing, terrifying, but not real.
It wraps around my ankles like chains. saying that my dreams are impossible, promising failure just beyond courage.
It magnifies the dark
and narrows the room I stand in, but it is smoke, and smoke has no hands to keep me captive.
Still, I listened.
I learned to step lightly around my desires, to delay my becoming because fear said, wait.
But fear lies.
It is not the author of my life, not a prophet, nor a guard.
It is a door meant to open, revealing what lies beyond its threshold.
Turning the handle.
I let the weight fall away like weights from my shoulders.
I learned the truth: nothing outside me was the barrier.
Only the story I told myself that I was small.
I am not here to bow to shadows.
I dance through them.
Beyond the doorway of fear
I dance with my light.