It's all at your finger tips.
Everything you want is on the other side of fear.
- Jack Canfield
I’d say I’m both fearless and fearful.
Everyone is, right? We all battle between fearlessness and fearfulness and figuring out which situations each is most appropriate. Walking down a dark, shady alley in the middle of the night in the worst part of town? Fearfulness is probably the wise choice. It prevents you from doing something that could potentially harming you. Talking to strangers at a conference? Fearlessness is the trait to have so you can meet and connect with people.
A lot of times I’m fearless. Sometimes I chalk it up to youngest child syndrome, growing up with my parents and five older siblings always taking care of me, leaving me with very few worries. OrI think back to losing my job and the perspective I gained from realizing God’s plans for my life were far better than anything I could dream up myself. Whatever it is that made me fearless, I’m grateful whenever I choose it.
It was fearlessness that propelled me to go to Alt Summit without knowing anyone, then eventually pitching a class idea to them and teaching the following year. It was fearlessness that compelled me to build up my blog and reach out to brands for collaboration. I chose fearlessness and so far it hasn’t let me down. But it’s really not that easy. I can recall just as many instances when I missed opportunities because I let fear get in the way. The time I didn’t talk to the photographer I admired because I was too scared he’d think I was crazy. Or the time I didn’t submit a wedding to a publication because I was scared it’d be rejected. Fear can be a real enemy to our happiness.
That’s why I love that quote by Jack Canfield so much, “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” We can’t let fear keep us from our dreams. I see a lot of colleagues and friends who are crippled by their fear of the future. I sit there and watch as they stay stagnant, my own imagination dreaming of all the amazing things they can do. But then I see something in them, a glimmer of hope and I see them slowly gripping the strength of fearlessness. I see as they choose fearlessness, then they choose it again, and again, and again. And I see their lives change before my eyes.
See, when you choose fearlessness, you choose to open yourself up. You open yourself up to God’s plans for your life. You open yourself up to your dreams. Ultimately you open yourself up to your own happiness. You must let fearlessness win!
Choose to live a life of fearlessness! Grab hold of your dreams. Charge forward. It’s all at your fingertips.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. June 18, 2015 | Canon Rebel XSN + Fuji s-400 processed by Richard Photo Lab