No longer afraid of the fall

I took this picture 96 FLOORS UP.

We went to the Signature Room on the 96th floor of the John Hancock Center when we were in Chicago and sitting up there, looking down on the rest of the city really got me thinking.

When I looked straight down out of the floor to ceiling window, my heart started racing. It almost made me afraid to sit next to the window...but when I came back to reality and looked the other way, I remembered that I didn't have to worry about falling so my racing heart settled and the fear went away.
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At first glance into so many things in my life...D1 softball, post-baby body transformation, becoming an entrepreneur...that fear of failure was the first thing to pop into my mind.

We are afraid we aren't good enough, smart enough, strong enough, pretty enough, or worthy enough.. We are afraid we can't reach our full potential. We hold ourselves back from so much because we are afraid of falling..of failing.

But then...what if we don't risk it? What if we sit back and settle? What if we forgo the opportunity for greatness? When I was 16 one of my softball coaches told us a quote after a game that really stuck with me. "Good is the enemy of great." That's so true no matter what we do in life. We settle for a life that is "safe" and "good enough" because we are AFRAID of going after greatness.

Is it really worth it though? Wouldn't it be better to GO FOR IT-- REALLY go for it and give it our all-- than to sit back and watch others do what we wish we could do and live a life we wish was our own?

Here's a secret: we can.

I can.
You can.

We just have to decide to stop holding ourselves back and go for what we really want. Deciding to go for those 3 things I listed above turned out to be the BEST decisions of my life...I faced the fear of failure and decided I was going to do it. No. matter. what. Were there tough times? Hell yes. Are there still? Absolutely. But when you tell yourself that quitting is not an option, obstacles that once may have meant failure simply become detours. If you don't quit, you can't fail.

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The people who built this skyscraper may have been terrified at the thought of it (and especially when finishing off the top floors), and I'm sure they had plenty of obstacles- detours- during the process, but think about the pride and elation they felt when it was finished.heart