That’s it. I’m done with fear.

In other news, my daughters love the word “stupid”. Everything, everyone, everything, has a percentage chance of being labeled as stupid.

“Eat your brussel sprouts.”

“No, they’re stupid.”

“I would have you know I graduated summa cum laude from de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne,” the brussel sprouts reply.

“You’re stupid.”

It’s all stupid. Albert frakkin’ Einstein? Stupid. In the end, if you call everything stupid, you sound, well, stupid.

My daughters, of course, don’t realize this. At times, I question their genetics. For example, when my eldest was around three or four years old, she refused dipping sauce for her carrots. The reason? “The dipping sauce is too dippy.” A direct quote.

Being a parent is stupid.

Which leads me to fear. I’m done, as I’ve said above. Done with fear. Today I did something I’ve spent two years dreading, fearing, panicking over. Two years. I brought smoothies to my friends at Flex Gym, which is the coolest gym ever in the history of the world. If Spartacus worked out in Denver, he’d go work out at Flex Gym. Hercules? Same place. If Daniel Boone was looking to get his sweat on, he’d head over to Flex Gym.

Why was I afraid? Well, I was making the smoothies with Juice Plus protein powder, and yes, the discussion of Juice Plus would happen, of course, and I’d get all nervous and salesmeny. I don’t like salesmen. They’re too salesmeny. And they’re stupid.

And what happened today? We had a good time, they were appreciative, I had fun, and I met some new people. A woman named Louisa. How many Louisa’s have you met in your life? Yeah, I know, awesome. She was named after Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women. And we talked oxidative stress, phytonutrients, free radicals, fruits and vegetables and spinach. A lot of people don’t like spinach because it’s too spinachy. And stupid.

So fear is stupid. Two years fretting over nothing. Did they think I was salesmeny? Probably. But who cares? I had fun. I gave people a chocolate-strawberry-spinach smoothie. They thanked me. It was delicious. Their cells thanked me. Less oxidative stress. And it was no big deal.

So, what else in my life do I blow up out of proportion because my head tells me to be afraid, be very afraid? Well, faxes and blogs, and both of those things I’ve conquered, as I’ve mastered the smoothie.

To quote the famous (and handsome) Aaron Michael Ritchey, “What is fear if not a challenge for us to be true to our better selves?”

Guy quotes from his own blog. How stupid.