At The End Of The Day, What’s Holding You Back?

We live our lives so timidly sometimes. We’re afraid to reach out to people in fear that we’ll get turned down. We’re nervous to pursue something we’ve dreamt about because it’s not practical or ‘normal.’ We’re scared to speak our minds because we don’t want confrontation. We’re hesitant when it comes to asking for things we want because we don’t want to sound pushy. We make excuses in our minds and hide behind them, forgetting that we are the only ones who can control our futures. We forget that we can shape what happens to us, that we can pave our own way, that we can determine the course of our own lives—us and fate. And yet, we hold back.

Why?

Is it fear of the unknown? Is it that we don’t want to fail? Or is it the terrifying possibility that what we want, what we desire, what we believe in might actually happen? The fact that our prayers could be answered, our dreams could come true—does that scare us more than anything?

So what?

So what if you feel scared right now. So what if everything could go wrong. So what if you see all the ways things might not work out. So what. You have to try regardless, or else you’ll never know if what you want could happen. If what you believe in could become tangible. If what you desire could be yours.

Let yourself be scared, just for a moment. Let yourself feel that fear running through your body, the promise of possibility. Because where you feel fear is where you grow.

At the moment you embrace all that could go wrong, yet step confidently forward—that is where your life really begins.

So what is holding you back? Is it the words imprinted in your memory as a child? Is it a person, a role model, a friend, a significant other, someone you look up to? Is it your own mind, thoughts running wild, pushing you down and making you feel insignificant and small? Is it the idea that failing is the worst thing that could happen, and you’re too scared to admit you might not succeed?

This life is too short to not pursue things that you want, that you believe in, that make you feel alive. It’s too short to be held back by fear of defeat, or to recount all your past losses as a determining factor of what will happen this time.

Life is too short to not tell someone you like them, to not hug a person you love, to not run after the girl who taught you how to love, or chase the boy who made your heart feel whole. Life is too short to wish you could take a different job, pursue a passion, paint that picture, write that book.

Life is too short to spend your days wishing you could do something when you already have the power to do it running through your veins, pumping through your muscles, beating in your chest.

Believe in yourself, in the possibility, in the strength of your heart, soul, and mind.

Believe in all the ways you can and you will.

Know that things might not always pan out, know that life is difficult and sometimes you’ll fall down, but remember that pursuing what you believe in is infinitely more important than looking back and wishing you did. Remember that you are the creator of your own destiny, and you cannot make a beautiful future if you’re forever standing on the sidelines, stagnant and unmoving.

Let yourself believe in the possibility. Let yourself hope. Let yourself imagine what it would be like if you didn’t get what you wanted, but then, let yourself imagine if you did.

And then, step forward in faith.

Marisa Donnelly is a poet and author of the book, Somewhere on a Highway, available here.