Fear as a Portal to Liberation
How to move through fear with reverence, not resistance
🌬️ Grounding Invitation
Good morning glorious humans! I do hope that our community-wide intentional rest day was wonderful for you. Today we are going to get into the depths of fear, not as a motivation, not as a tactic, but as a portal, a gateway to the other side if you will.
Before we begin, let’s return to the body.
Unclench your jaw.
Soften your shoulders.
Let your belly loosen.
Let your spine grow tall.
Take a breath in through the nose…
Hold.
Exhale through the mouth slowly.
Feel your feet on the ground.
Feel the breath anchoring you here.
Feel your ancestors at your back, your future self ahead, and the earth holding you from below.
You are here.
You are safe enough to stay.
You are ready—even if you are afraid.
What If Fear Is Not the Enemy?
We’ve been taught that fear is something to overcome.
To suppress. To push through. To fight.
But what if fear isn’t a wall—it’s a doorway?
What if fear is a portal—an initiation that signals you’re nearing something sacred?
Fear often rises not because we are broken,
but because we are standing at the edge of who we have been—
and who we are becoming.
Fear is the heat of transformation.
It’s the trembling before truth.
It’s the body’s sacred alert system saying:
“This matters. This will change you. Pay attention.”
In colonized systems, fear is weaponized—
used to maintain control, to keep us small, to sever us from our own knowing.
But in liberated spaces, fear is not punished—it’s honored.
It is met with reverence.
It is seen as a teacher, not a threat.
I remember one night when my son, barely three or four at the time, said something that stopped me in my tracks.
He looked at me with his little voice and said,
“I’m not afraid of the dark… I’m afraid of what’s in the dark.”
The distinction was profound.
He wasn’t afraid of the unknown itself—he was afraid of what it might hold.
And in that moment, I didn’t dismiss his fear.
I gave him a mantra:
I am safe. I am brave. I am capable.
And then I told him something I know to be true for all of us:
“Sometimes, baby, you have to do it scared anyway.”
Because fear is not the opposite of courage.
Fear is the prerequisite.
You cannot be brave if you are not also afraid.
That night, he slept with his little mantra whispered like a prayer. He continues to affirm himself daily with this mantra. (He is 9 now)
Reflection Prompt
Take a moment and ask yourself:
What fear is rising in me right now…
not as a warning, but as a threshold?
What sacred part of me is trying to emerge?
Write it down. Breathe with it.
You don’t have to fix it. You just have to face it—gently.
✨ Let’s Go Deeper—Together
If this offering is speaking to something true in you…
If you’re ready to keep walking this Season of Emergence with me…
I lovingly invite you to become a paid subscriber to Liberation Education.
You’ll unlock the rest of this piece (and all my past articles), join our collective healing journey, and receive weekly sacred tools for decolonizing, dreaming, and deepening your liberation work.
Right now, I’m celebrating my 46th birthday—so you can receive 46% off a full year of Liberation Education through April 14.
You can also gift a subscription to someone who’s doing this sacred work too.
And as always, if cost is a barrier, email scholarships@desireebstephens.com—no one is turned away.
We’re not moving through fear alone.
We’re doing it together.
Let’s keep going.