I read an article about a week ago (which you can read here) that talked about embracing the idea of being courageous, and embracing those things that we sometimes let fall by the wayside and never complete because of one reason or another.  I couldn’t have read that article at a more relatable time in my life.  This year, more than any other year, I am being more conscious about being more courageous and not allowing fear to overwhelm me and take advantage of what I want out of life.

Most times, I find that fear is the overarching factor behind why most of my goals are not accomplished.  For one reason or another, there is something lingering in the atmosphere that has to do with an indirect or direct fear attached to it, and that is why I cannot complete the task at hand.   Fear drives us further away from our goals than any other emotion or barrier.

In the article it pointed out a few questions that I want to pose to your as well.  How many of us have done one or more of these things at least once in our lives:

● Had a great idea but didn’t pursue it

● Started an exciting project but never completed it?

● Felt strongly about something but never spoke up about it

● Procrastinated or talked yourself out of a dream you had

● Met someone special but did not take the time to allow a relationship to blossom

● Became overwhelmed with choices in your life and ended up not doing any of them?

So, I bet if we were told to raise our hands after each example our hands would have gone up at least more than once or twice, right?  Exactly!  Sometimes we have the best ideas and intentions for our lives and we let them go because of fear.  We fear that we will ultimately fail, we fear that we will not be supported or liked, we fear that things will not turn out in our favor, we just live in that same skeptical mindset, and ultimately nothing ever gets achieved.

I remember before I started writing my first book, how many sheets of paper I went through over the years writing out the beginning paragraphs of a novel idea, and how many times I would ball it up and throw it away.  I thought about how many New Years resolutions would come around and I would say “I am going to publish my own poetry book” and I would start the process to research it and never do it.  I let the fear of feeling as if I wasn’t good enough to be published, take me away from something I truly wanted for myself.

Fast-forward to today, and I’ve not only done that, but I’ve put myself in the position and planned out to write and publish three more books (at least within the next two years) under my own publishing company!  Why? Because I had the courage to tell myself that I was better than my fear would allow me to be.  I had the courage to step up and say “I CAN do this, and I’m going to be great at it.”  I finally told myself that I would not allow fear to intimidate my desire to have the courage to conquer the goals I set out for myself.

Even when I started blogging in 2015, I never thought my blog would be what it is today.  I now have over 400 followers, I’ve posted almost 550 posts, and I’m on the cusp of almost 10,000 views!!!! That is HUGE for me, especially in the moments when I believed that I wanted to quit blogging because I felt I wasn’t resonating with anyone.  I continued to remain focused and courageous in my goals.  I wanted to be a blogger, and although my following is still relatively small, I have seen it grow more in the last three months that ever before, and I am really starting to feel that I can put myself in the category of considering myself a blogger.

I’ve received nothing but love and support from my books and my blog, and I couldn’t be more proud of myself when it comes to my writing journey.  Courage was always something that I didn’t give myself enough of, and fear was always something I let overpower my thought process; however, nowadays, I’ve committed to allowing myself to do the things I love and the things I want to do without regards to fear.  The best support starts from within, and if you can give yourself the courage to accomplish whatever you want out of life, I’m confident everything else will fall in place.