Fears We Don't Face...

This is one of my all-time favorite quotes. It really resonates with me. It is so easy to avoid things that make us uncomfortable. This can morph into a couple of things. It can then become something you've convinced yourself you can't do - and there's no shame in not doing something you can't do, right? Or it becomes something you convince yourself you don't really want to do anyway.

9 months pregnant

This is true in so many areas of our life. When I was considering staring my home-based business, I thought, "well I'll do the online promotion, but I'm not going to talk to people face to face because I'm not good at that and that's not something I want to do." I also decided that I wasn't going to put any additional money into the business until I made x number of dollars. While I am still going to be incredibly frugal, it is wise to invest a little bit of money on things like business cards, right? I realized that I didn't want to sink any money into this because I was afraid of failure. I was afraid I would look foolish and I would end up wasting our very limited finances on something that would just end up being a huge mistake.

I realized that I was letting fear of failure put me in a very small box of what I was willing to try. I had already drawn a line and created a limit for myself. I was already planning to fail.

Today - 85 pounds (and one baby) lighter

I think this is also really common when you're overweight. It is so easy to avoid things that make you uncomfortable. I would (and sometimes still do) avoid things that put me at the center of attention. You're in a group and someone asks for a volunteer? Nope. Doing something physical in a group of people - like a group fitness class? I'll pass, thanks. When standing in a group, I would try to make myself smaller, to not be noticed for any reason. Eventually I realized that these things I convinced myself I didn't want to do were things I avoided because I felt self-conscious. I was uncomfortable with my size so I became someone who was much less adventurous than I once was - I was much less willing to try new things. I told myself that when I got down to a certain weight, then I would try this or that.

I finally came to the conclusion that people were far less concerned about my weight than I was and that even if someone cared, it didn't matter. Why would I let what other people think control my actions? So when an opportunity comes along and my instinct is to decline, I try to stop and think. Do I want to do this? If not why? Do I legitimately not want to, or do I want to avoid it because it makes me uncomfortable. Every time I do something that makes me uncomfortable it get a little bit easier - and as things get easier, I get more comfortable with myself and maintaining healthy habits gets easier as well.

Here's to hoping it keeps getting easier.

Best wishes,

~Megan