People fear so many things. The majority of the time, that fear dictates your choices. I’m a prime example of someone who’s allowed fear to hold them back in more ways than one. It wasn’t until this year that I began thinking, “What’s the worst that could happen?”… Like honestly, if you really sat down and asked yourself that question, what would be the answer you’d come up with? Is the answer life or death? Probably not.

But I get it. If the answers are rejection, possible embarrassment, feeling uncomfortable or anything that will pop the bubble you’ve created for yourself in keeping you safe and happy, you’d walk the other way as fast as you can. I’ve done it more times than I want to admit. That’s what fear does. But then I realized something worse. I realized a fear that kept growing every year when the final hour struck on Dec. 31.

The fear was looking back on all the days I was given the opportunity to overcome what was holding me back and discovering I’m standing in the same exact spot I was in in the beginning. If there’s anything that’s broken me down, it was making that realization year after year. Feeling uncomfortable for a moment is worth more than feeling regret for a lifetime.

Not only does fear force you to give up the desires of your heart, it makes you start believing the lie that you never deserved them in the first place. There’s nothing worse than reaching the end of something and realizing you’ve gained absolutely nothing. No lessons learned, no growth, no reward, no satisfaction. All you needed to do to achieve any of those was try.

Who you are tomorrow begins with what you do today.

Tim Fargo

You want to know what’s the worst that could happen? The worst is not trying. The worst is giving up. The worst is depriving yourself of what you deserve. You deserve a chance and often times, you end up being the one to take that away. The only thing you’ll remember feeling is disappointment and we all know how shitty that feels.

So what if you get rejected (in any kind of situation)? Hell, you weren’t put on this earth to be liked by everyone so that’s one burden you can let go of. You were embarrassed? Just another fun story to share when you can finally laugh about it (and oh believe me, you will.) Millions of people have at least one embarrassing story in their memory box so that’s another burden you can say goodbye to.

Feeling uncomfortable for a moment is worth more than feeling regret for a lifetime.

Stop allowing fear to conjure up these insignificant burdens you were never meant to carry. There are enough forces on earth that cause roadblocks in our lives, are we really going to just surrender ourselves to the one thing we do have the ability to control? It’s not always easy but it’s absolutely possible. The time to act is now. What’s the worst that could happen?