Facing My Fears: Failure

Today was a particularly challenging day for me so I wanted to share something that is a very personal challenge I face in my own life.

The fear of failure.

There are plenty of things in my life that work against the more positive moments. Few are as effective or difficult to manage, however, as my fear of failure.

I sometime wish I was more confident in myself and my abilities. I would like to pretend that I have an optimistic view that allows me to tackle anything that comes my way without hesitation.

In fact, I worry about a lot of things. I worry about being good enough in a lot of ways. It's a constant in my life, in just about everything that I do.

I worry about being funny enough.

I worry about being attractive enough, fit enough, healthy enough.

I worry about being smart enough or clever enough or talented enough.

I worry about being successful.

I worry about achieving my dreams.

I worry about being happy.

I worry about making others happy.

I worry about failing in every conceivable way to accomplish the things I want in life.

And if I'm being honest, it's exhausting.

Fear of failure for me is more than just wondering if I'll pull off what I set out to do. Sometimes it's a nigh unstoppable force that can stop me in my tracks in an instant. Why? Because the one thing that's easiest to do when I'm worried about accomplishing something is doing nothing at all.

That's right.