Fear is a powerful thing, but it's also a strange thing. Some fear is good - like the kind of fear that makes you rethink your life choices when you find yourself face to face with a grizzly bear. That kind of fear is healthy, mostly because it keeps you alive.
Some fear ... a lot of fear, is not good. I'm talking about the kind of fear that we create. We can create it in our children when we tell them to be careful all of the time and only point out the dangers and risks without explaining how to properly navigate through them. We can create it in ourselves when we don't learn how to control our imagination and instead give it the freedom to go wild and replay the worst possible scenario on an endless loop.
It's not the fear itself that is bad so much as what it does to us. Fear stops us from living.
Think about this: when was the last time your fears kept you from doing something that you wanted to do? Or maybe stopped you from trying something new? Fear has kept me from doing a lot of things in my life and that can easily turn into regret later on. I don't know about you, but I don't want to look back on my life and only see regrets - adventures missed, opportunities left behind, happy memories never lived.
Which brings me to this moment. The grand opening of my business. Though I talked about opening a business and even had several options lined up, I never actually thought I would get to this point. I made excuses - I don't know enough, I don't have enough supplies, we don't have the space - instead of just admitting the truth.
I was afraid. Still am, in fact.
Why? This question took a lot of introspection, honesty, and hard truths to really uncover. As I worked through it in my mind, I came up with several answers. What if no one liked what I made? What if everyone laughed when they saw my products? What if no one bought anything?
What if I failed?
Well, what if I fail? What happens then? Nothing. Best case scenario - I try again, a little wiser and better prepared than last time. Worst case? I shut down the business, lose a bit of money, but I keep on living. Life goes on. As I like to say: it's not the end of the world, it's not even the end of the day.
Suddenly I realized that all of those questions were more excuses, excuses that kept me from doing something I really want to do, something I needed to do in order to create the life I wanted to live.
And that made me angry.
I'm not going to let fear control my life. I'm not going to let fear keep me from doing what I want to do and being who I want to be.
I'm not going to let fear win.
And so here I am, opening my online store, doing something I never thought I would do ... because until now fear always won. Until now. And you know what? If I can do it, you can too. So the next time you find yourself stepping back from something you want to do, think to yourself - Why am I letting fear win?
We can do this together. We can push through our fears and change our world.