Brave Rest Coach, Author & Podcaster
Brave Rest Coach, Author & Podcaster

What Remains When Fear Falls Away

Audio Version:

Choosing to lean in when life calls us to grow

Dear Friend,

This morning, I woke remembering the accident, not with trembling, but with awe. In that moment when everything could have shattered, I discovered something extraordinary: I was completely free of fear.

When the fall delivered its messenger in metal and momentum, time stretched and collapsed simultaneously. My body knew exactly what to do without my mind’s interference. No resistance. No bracing. Just pure, naked presence. In that suspended moment, I didn’t choose surrender; it chose me. And in that choosing, I tasted a freedom I’d been seeking my whole life.

That’s the paradox: the most challenging moment became my greatest teacher. When I couldn’t control or know what would happen next, I discovered I didn’t need to.

But here’s what I’m learning: that fearless state is always available. The challenge isn’t accessing it, but trusting it enough to let it guide our daily actions.

Weeks later, the mind wants to reclaim its territory. The old patterns creep back: “You could have died. Be more careful. Never let that happen again.” But that’s not what happened in the actual moment. In the actual moment, I was free.

So I’m learning to choose, again and again, to trust the wisdom of that moment over the noise of my fears. Each morning, I sit quietly and invoke not the impact, but the presence. I ask my body to remember: What was it like to be completely free of fear?

When I notice myself bracing against something, a difficult email, an unexpected change, I pause. I ask: How would the me who was fearless in that accident respond from that place of absolute trust?

Present-moment awareness becomes the bridge between that extraordinary state and ordinary life. Each time we choose presence over projection, each time we soften instead of armor, we strengthen our capacity to live from that fearless place.

The fearlessness I touched wasn’t a fluke. It was a glimpse of what’s always available when we stop fighting life and start trusting it. The accident taught me that surrender isn’t something we fall into, it’s something we rise to.

Today, I commit to living from that place of fearless surrender. When old patterns arise, I’ll remember: I don’t need to armor myself against life. I’ve already lived through the proof that when everything falls away, what remains is not fear but freedom.

I choose to live from it.

With love and presence, 

Sarah

P.S. Dear friend, if you’ve touched your own moment of fearless surrender—in crisis, in love, in loss—trust what you experienced. That wasn’t the exception; that was the truth. The invitation now is to make that truth the rule rather than the exception. To build your life on the foundation of that trust, enriching every moment with the knowledge that you’ve already proven you can meet life without fear. You don’t need to wait for another crisis to show you who you are. You already know.

More Musings

What Remains When Fear Falls Away

Audio Version: Choosing to lean in when life calls us to grow Dear Friend, This morning, I woke remembering the

The Quiet Work of Winter

Wintering Audio Version: Dear friend, I keep returning to Katherine May’s words from her book Wintering: “I learned winter young.” There’s recognition

Sarah laying down with book and feet resting on bookcase

The Almost Invisible Shifts That Change Everything

Audio Version: Mark Nepo’s Poem: This morning, I found myself returning to Mark Nepo’s October 22nd entry in The Book of

Sarah's Newsletter

Get Sarah’s dispatches, “From My Corner By The Sea” every Sunday in your inbox.

Site Credits

Grateful for collaborating with great people.

free Live workshop

Breathe Away Anxiety

How Conscious Breathing Tames Anxiety's Grip

Nov 2, 7 pm Eastern

with Sarah Brassard and Jen Broyles