There were times in the past when I would wonder what in the heck I was actually doing.  Like, "are you sure this is what you want", "why are you even attempting to do this - you have zero experience", blah, blah, yada and yeder.  Whether it came to a goal, a business idea, a relationship, anything new and unfamiliar to my comfort zone.

Fortunately, I knew exactly what it is was.  Maybe I didn't see it back then, but you hit a moment of honesty with yourself at some point, and when I did I realized it was fear. Fear of uncertainty. Fear of failure. Fear of what "they" will say or think. Just good 'ol self grown fear.  So, recognizing that is great, but what do you do with it?

Because fear is such an incredibly effective roadblock to the realization of dreams and goals, it is imperative that you not lie to yourself.  What I mean by that, is you trying to tell yourself you aren't afraid.

Say what? Yes, I know most people probably say otherwise, but the problem with lying to yourself is that your real self knows the truth right now. It leads to frustration.  What I actually suggest is for you to find a way to manage fear. 

The quickest way IS to actually do the very thing that scares you - over and over.  You want to play on stage in a live band, but are scared of crowds.  The way to overcome it would be to actually start playing in front of people, slowly increasing the size of the audience.  The way you would manage it would be to concentrate your effort solely on your instrument, your rhythm, and the music you're playing to the point where the crowd is not even a factor really.

Going into business on your own - you can't conquer that fear of failing at business if you never actually go into business.  You have to make that leap.  You manage that fear by reminding yourself that instead of focusing on a setback, or hiccups, your job is to keep coming up with solutions to keep moving forward.

Ultimately, we all discover at some point that although our minds mean well in producing this thing called fear for our "protection", it actually holds us back from realizing our own greatness. 

We all have something amazing to offer.  Why hold on to it if we ourselves are not using it for awesomeness.  Let your will to happily share your talents and services with others override your fear.  You never know who, or what, you will positively impact greatly by doing so.

Top photo credit:  californiasciencecenter.org