When it comes to pursuing passions and dreams what is it that holds us back? Is it truly the fear of failure that creeps into our minds and convinces us that our goals can not be attained? I’m not so sure. I feel like the majority of us, myself included, are actually afraid of succeeding.

That is the only think I can think of. It can not be failure we are scared of because we have already accomplished that by not even trying. We have convinced ourselves that we need to hold on to our dreams and not go after them to protect them. For some reason we believe that we do no have the ability to accomplish what we hope to and by keeping them within us it keeps them safe and untainted.  That’s crazy.  We need to change our mindset.

We try to teach our children to reach for the stars. We nurture their confidence so as they grow they believe in themselves. However, we do not nurture our confidence as adults. At what point did we tell ourselves that the stars are outside of our reach? This can be applied to any situation including weight loss. When we know we do not feel good about our bodies why do we not get in shape? Are we afraid we will not loose weight? Well, again that is already being accomplished by not even trying. So if we actually being to do our best at trying to loose weight the only possible outcome is success. Do you get what I am saying?

Take a look at the image. I have a copy of it inside of my journal  (click here to read about that journal) to serve as motivation to myself. On top is the way many of us think. We give ourselves the option to fail. Why should I even make failure an option?  On the bottom is how we should think. The only place failure should be is at the starting point. If you stay at the starting point and never make steps to advance then what will you accomplish? Nothing.  However, the moment you start to strive towards your goals then you are advancing towards success.

Like I have began to nurture confidence in my children I am now also going to begin to nurture confidence in myself. If I teach them not to make failure an option then why should I make it an option for me.

~Tricia