Passion – 29/6/11

You can have anything you want if you want it desperately enough.  You must want it with an exuberance that erupts through the skin and joins the energy that created the world.  ~Sheila Graham

Finding something you love, dream of and are working toward it is an incredible experience. Having a passion about something and pushing your limits helps you prove to yourself what you are truly capable of. Fear is a major obstacle to passion because often we will not go after something if we fear the process involved in getting there.

I have not pursued the things I am passionate about in years. While many circumstances lead to this, my biggest challenge was fear because of a poor self image. In my mind, I allowed myself to imagine and be influenced by what others might say and think of me. I talked to myself in my head in a way that I would never allow any other person to talk to me, in a way that I would never talk to someone else. I had no confidence and in turn that made me afraid to go out on a limb. I am so glad that girl is gone. Those unkind words have not been spoken in weeks. They have been replaced by confident self-talk that pushes me to better myself

I have always had big dreams. I found it hard to watch those who had no goals to strive for, no dreams, nothing to be passionate about. It was hard because often I could see their potential and I so badly wanted them to want something more. I believe you should always strive for more, each and every day. Never settle. I am not talking about wanting more in the monetary sense - I am talking about pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone and doing the things you have always dreamed about.

How scary is that? What if you fail? I have learned a valuable lesson from the affairs and subsequent breakdown of my marriage. It is, so what if you fail?  Try again or learn a valuable lesson. You will not gain anything if you settle, you have to live life to the fullest each and every day, working towards the things that you want to do. Life is far to short to worry about what others think. You have one chance to do it right. You don't want to die wishing you had, you want to die knowing you tried and  for the most part, succeeded.  Failure is not all that scary once you remove your ego from it.

I will continue running and watching my success in my achievements and pride in myself grow in leaps and bounds. I will continue to have fun meeting people, even random strangers in the grocery store because now I can. I will try new things and look fear in the eye. Fear will never hold me back again! I think this attitude will help me find love again because as scary as it is that someone may betray me, it is better, so they say, to have loved and lost then never loved at all! I will not regret anything and I will always try to step out of my comfort zone because there is a hell of a lot of life to live out of it!

Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive.  And then go and do that.  Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.  ~Attributed to Howard Thurman