I’m afraid of just about everything. I am the guy who never raised his hand in class. I never talked to girls who I thought were pretty. I never tried so many of the things I wanted to try. I didn’t dance because I didn’t want to look stupid. I didn’t take the game winning shot…I passed the ball to someone else. I didn’t say what was on my mind because of that little voice in me that told me I would fail. “You will look stupid.”, it said. “You will miss.”, it said. “She will think you’re a doofus.”, it said. “You will sound like an oaf.”, it said.
A habit of behavior becomes our very personality. Maybe I’m not cautious by nature. I just learned to be that way. That old familiar feeling of excitement that comes when some new opportunity presents itself is something I learned to dismiss so much so that my demeanor has been molded by it. I play it safe. I stay in the background. I’m the “strong silent type”. But really I know I’m just scared.
There is some truth in the voice. I do look insanely stupid on the dance floor. But in those moments when I did venture out and shove a sock in the throat of that voice and I did dance…I had fun. I had fun. Let me say it again. I had fun. It could be the fear itself that makes the experience all the more enjoyable.
So I wonder sometimes why I still listen to the voice. I wonder why I still accept the fear. I am convinced that successful people hear the same voice that I do but somehow they learn when to listen and when to disregard that voice. They’ve learned that sometimes failing is not so bad as it might have seemed. They’ve learned that certain, “must fail” situations turn out to be brilliant success.
In the movie, “Tin Cup”, Kevin Costner’s character talks about ‘defining moments’ explaining that at certain moments in life, either you define the moment or the moment defines you. I know that in my own life I’ve let the moment define me far too often. I’ve listened to the thundering sky and decided not to go out of my cave. I’ve heeded the call to safety. I’ve missed a lot of opportunities. I’ve missed a lot of fun.
I don’t know who said it but I am beginning to understand that famous statement, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” Was it Churchill? It doesn’t matter. It’s true beyond belief. I hope and yes even pray that instead of listening to the voice I might start to understand that the moments when the voice is calling at its loudest and clearest are the very moments that I must act. Those are the moments that lead to greatness perhaps. At the very least I won’t spend my life sitting in the back of the class, never speaking out, only ever being noticed for the fact that I don’t say much.
A habit of behavior becomes our very personality. Maybe I’m not cautious by nature. I just learned to be that way. That old familiar feeling of excitement that comes when some new opportunity presents itself is something I learned to dismiss so much so that my demeanor has been molded by it. I play it safe. I stay in the background. I’m the “strong silent type”. But really I know I’m just scared.
There is some truth in the voice. I do look insanely stupid on the dance floor. But in those moments when I did venture out and shove a sock in the throat of that voice and I did dance…I had fun. I had fun. Let me say it again. I had fun. It could be the fear itself that makes the experience all the more enjoyable.
So I wonder sometimes why I still listen to the voice. I wonder why I still accept the fear. I am convinced that successful people hear the same voice that I do but somehow they learn when to listen and when to disregard that voice. They’ve learned that sometimes failing is not so bad as it might have seemed. They’ve learned that certain, “must fail” situations turn out to be brilliant success.
In the movie, “Tin Cup”, Kevin Costner’s character talks about ‘defining moments’ explaining that at certain moments in life, either you define the moment or the moment defines you. I know that in my own life I’ve let the moment define me far too often. I’ve listened to the thundering sky and decided not to go out of my cave. I’ve heeded the call to safety. I’ve missed a lot of opportunities. I’ve missed a lot of fun.
I don’t know who said it but I am beginning to understand that famous statement, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” Was it Churchill? It doesn’t matter. It’s true beyond belief. I hope and yes even pray that instead of listening to the voice I might start to understand that the moments when the voice is calling at its loudest and clearest are the very moments that I must act. Those are the moments that lead to greatness perhaps. At the very least I won’t spend my life sitting in the back of the class, never speaking out, only ever being noticed for the fact that I don’t say much.
No comments:
Post a Comment