There are so many reasons you don’t do what you love. There’s not enough time. You’re not ready. You don’t have the talent. But when it comes down to it, the reason is fear. We avoid our passions because we’re afraid of failure—of giving it your best shot and embarrassing yourself. But which would be worse—to try and fail? or to live in mediocrity, never act on your dreams, and always wonder what might have happened if you did?
Here’s the thing: you already know what you deserve. You already know, deep down, what you would do if you knew you couldn’t fail. You have dreams you don’t want to tell others because they’re outrageous, they don’t make sense—and yet you’re drawn to them. Your vision for life resonate deeply with some innate part of your soul.
I love writing. I always have. During high school, all my friends were passionate about writing as well. We wrote our novels together, talked through our plots, choreographed scenes, fell in love with our characters, and all the while we dreamed that our stories would become bestsellers someday and be adapted into tv shows and movies. The stories weren’t just good, they were great. There was real potential there. Then, over the years, one by one, I watched those same friends give up, put their projects aside, and get on with the business of living.
Don’t do that to yourself. Don’t give up on your dreams.
Maybe you already have the creativity you’ve been searching for. Maybe the chance to act is coming, maybe it’s already here. God has epic plans for your life; have the courage to believe in him. But when the opportunity comes, will you be ready for it?
Trust yourself. Trust that God’s spirit works through you. Trust your capacity to transform this idea into existence. It won’t be perfect, but it doesn’t have to be. That’s why we revise—to try again, to make it better, to edit and scrap the unnecessary, to make the work of art truer and truer to itself until it becomes the masterpiece you first envisioned.
Look around in your life. The beauty you ache for? It’s everywhere.
Are you ready for the opportunity that’s coming your way? If not, get ready. Do what you have to do. Pick up your pen, your brushes, your ingredients, your instrument. Go make magic. You will never succeed if you don’t begin.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness,
that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves,
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.”
from “Our Deepest Fear” by Marianne Williamson
<3 Olivia Grace
