Do you remember the movie franchise, Final Destination? That one where death has marked you, and no matter how much you try and avoid it, it catches up with you.

Life is just like that too. All its messiness will catch up with you, sooner or later. Its inevitable. I’ve been trying to run from messiness for 58 years so that I don’t have to deal with the shame, fear, rejection, unworthiness, self loathing, humiliation and the “I’m not enoughness of it all.”

Here’s the thing, though. Like monsters, nightmares and ghosts, these afflictions hide in the dusty attics in our hearts and the dark corridors of our soul. They’re infinitely patient and wait for their moment (which is normally when we have a bright spot of joy, certainty, love, and happiness) to trip us up and bring us to our knees.

In my experience, the only way to prevent the monsters from sabotaging our happiness is to face them. Wrestle with them and overcome them. It’s not an easy fight because we have allowed them to grow strong by feeding them with our insecurities, fears and falsehoods. You’ll come out of the experience battered, bruised and emotionally spent.

But there is really nothing for it but to face them sooner rather than later. It’s inevitable, they’re coming for us regardless of how much we run. They will always trip us up, frustrate and ruin our lives. Until we decide to face them, and destroy them, that is. It is possible … we can lay waste to them and become victorious in our lives and claim that the prize: to be happy and content.

So, let’s be brave, you and I, and face them down now.