No one is immune to failure, or fear. But no one has to let fear of failure keep them from winning.
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“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” ~Michael Jordan
Stop thinking you’re special in your fear of failing.
Everyone fears rejection.
Everyone fears embarrassment.
Everyone fears failure.
Everyone fears wasted effort.
Everyone fears “What if.”
You’re not alone in your fear. Not unique. Not a snowflake.
Fear paralyzes, creates doubt, and magnifies indecision.
Fear leverages the unknown and visualizes the worst case scenario.
Fears stops us from dreaming, and risking, and acting.
The wages of fear are regret and wonder and “what could have been?”
Perhaps there exist a few fearless souls. I’m not one of them. I stretch to tap into fear-less. Often I consider what I fear-more. Maybe that will work for you as well.
Fear-less the response of the critic and fear-more the unreached masses that would be changed by your writing.
Fear-less the incomplete marathon and fear-more the physical condition you’ll be in if you don’t train.
Fear-less the interview and fear-more the creditors pounding the phone with calls.
Fear-less the dry throat and shaking voice and fear-more the message never shared with the audience.
Fear-less the rejection of your love and fear-more the silent suffering of not knowing the answer.
Fear-less the lack of support and fear-more the calling that you ignore.
We all fear. We all want to create our art and receive rave reviews and complete acceptance.
Yet, we know that can’t happen. Mainly because we have all been someone else’s fear. We haven’t raved about everything. We haven’t supported everyone. We haven’t five-starred every book, or movie. We haven’t encouraged every dream of a friend or family member. Maybe that gnaws at us just a little and prevents us from letting go. Maybe that’s part of the reason we find ourselves being fear-full, rather than fear-less.
Don’t let fear win. Just for today fear a little less the negatives and fear a little more the unattained positives.
Read More Inspiration Unpacked on The Good Men Project
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Photo: Flickr/Jason H. Smith
It would be nice if we could find a way to help police officers control their fear when they patrol the streets. Too many times, cops don’t have the discipline to keep their fears in check considering the fact that being a police officer is not listed in the 10 most dangerous jobs in America. Many of these cops were veterans of Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq and if they couldn’t control their fear on the battlefield, their fellow soldiers would not trust them and the military would be court-martialing soldiers on the battlefield for cowardice in the face of the… Read more »