What I Have Learned: The Moment Gives Us Something to Face

What I have learned is that fear is often worse before the thing is named.

When it is still out there somewhere,
when it is only a possibility,
when it lives in the imagination,
it can become larger than life.

I lived with signs in my body for a long time before I faced them honestly.
Part of me knew something was wrong.
Part of me did not want to know.

Then the truth came.

Cancer.

And strangely enough,
once it had a name,
I was not afraid in the same way.

I did not like it.
I did not want it.
I did not pretend it was easy.

But now I had something real to face.

Doctors.
Tests.
Treatment.
Decisions.
The next step.

That is what worry never gives us.

Worry gives us fear without direction.
The moment gives us something to do.

The imagined future steals strength from today because it asks us to fight what has not happened yet.

But the honest moment,
even when it is painful,
gives courage somewhere to stand.

The DKP Word 2026
davidkpayne.com
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