All of us have something we're afraid of. I'm not talking about the dark, or a scary movie. I'm talking about the thing that plagues us with stress and anxiety, day in and day out. It could be the job you dread going back to on Monday. It could be a giant fear of failure - that this thing you're trying so hard to achieve will slip away. You could be terrified of success - what will I do if I make it? Will it be as great as I thought? It could be these, or a million other things more, but I believe whatever IT is just jumped into your mind as you read this first paragraph.
Thinking about this yesterday, I had a big realization. This thing I fear, this thing you fear, the thing we all fear, will one day be no more. One day, you will no longer be afraid, or it will go away. For example, if you are vastly afraid of failure, one of two things will happen:
1) You will succeed, and failure won't even be an option.
2) You will fail, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep moving.
99% of us want option #1, but either way, one of these two will happen. And one day, this thing we fear most will be gone, forever. It will be so removed from our minds that we won't even think of it any longer. That could take days, months, or years, but I guarantee it will happen. And at that point, what's left? Will you have memories of staring your fear down, praying through your issues, and moving full force ahead? Or will you be left with the realization that you were so afraid that you chose the option I didn't even name:
3) You were so afraid, that you didn't even try for fear of failure.
May fear never be the thing that drives you. May the terrifying reality of whatever is coming next propel you towards things greater, not towards looking backwards and wishing it would all go away. I hope and pray that I will face my fears head on. That I won't turn to the right or to the left, no matter how badly I want to. That my memories will be triumphant, even if they're painful.
Don't let this thing you fear force you to choose option 3. Don't be afraid, and don't let the fear of whatever your THING is hold you back from being the YOU that you were meant to be.
