When I was young I was lucky to find what I loved to do right away. It turned out that I was really good at it too. Then, an interesting thing happened. I stopped working as hard because I didn’t need to. I was good enough in my limited world view to get all that I wanted from the amount of effort I had learned to apply. Slowly, those who weren’t naturally as good learned to put out more effort in the right places, more consistently and surpassed me.
Eventually, it was clear that I was not going to be able to pursue my dream in the way that I wanted to, and I let this devastate me. I was so broken that I had lost the dream of a lifetime early on that I refused to follow any other direction that I loved for the fear of the potential loss.
What I had really gained was a sense of what losing a dream could feel like. Without that fear we never learn to be brave. I wish that I had learned to be brave many years earlier than I did because I have so much more to contribute than I have.
Learning to be brave has allowed me to start doing what I love again, and when I do what I love, I have ambition, drive persistence, obsession, but it all starts with love. Not the other way around. If you have felt the loss of a dream, a person, a relationship, and identity, I totally understand the fear that can linger about creating this again. But if you want to feel your purpose fulfilled, learn to be brave.
If you want to conquer your fear, get out and do something. You have so much more to offer the world when you are doing what you love.