Vulnerability Can Be Scary But It Can Also Be So Rewarding

Try to remember your very first day of elementary school – you were too young to know any better, scared without the protection of your parents, and unsure of what to expect. You may have shed a few tears as your school bus pulled away and you watched your mom waving in the background crying like a baby herself. But before you knew it, a little girl or boy sat next to you and you were already making a friend.

Before you knew it, you were succeeding and ready to conquer the day.

And that’s life.

It can be scary, actually scratch that, terrifying, to put yourself out there. The older you get the more you realize that you have to be able to stand on your own two feet without the crutch of a parent or friend.

When you fall, you fall hard. You get cuts, scrapes and bruises, but you also pick yourself up, dust off your knees, and continue going.

Because that’s life.

But unfortunately, from time-to-time we let life control our decisions; we let fear stop us from putting ourselves out there because our intimidation of vulnerability is too harrowing to actually try; we let our dread of judgment by people we don’t even know halt us from taking a step towards our dreams.

Vulnerability is another thing that can be absolutely terrifying. There are so many “What ifs?” and “But what if it doesn’t work out?” We begin to doubt our abilities and convince ourselves that failure is inevitable and we should not even bother trying because who likes to be disappointed?

If there is anything I have learned, it’s that you have to learn to accept failure… don’t become friends with it but understand it for what it is: an obstacle. You’re right, it can be inevitable on certain occasions but that doesn’t mean you can’t beat it.

Don’t ever stop yourself from taking the next step towards your goal just because someone may not agree with your path or strides.

Don’t ever let fear of failure cause you to not submit that application, email, or writing sample to the company you think you would love to work with.

And don’t ever doubt your abilities because I promise you, you may not think your work is gold but someone else may think it’s platinum.

We love to convince ourselves that there is always someone better, smarter, or even more qualified for the job or experience we would love to have. But instead of someone else making that decision for us and putting our faith into the hands of the person whose actual job it is to choose someone for the position, we don’t even submit our résumé.

We don’t even give the universe a chance. We don’t even give ourselves a chance.

So in the future, stop allowing the negative thoughts in your head persuade you that you are not worthy. Prove to yourself that you are powerful and can do anything that you put your mind to.

You won’t succeed at everything but there’s a chance that you just might reach success and find a little self-pride in the process.

Never live your life wondering what could have happened if you took that next step. Continue forward knowing you tried your hardest and if it did work out, well then congratulations. And if it didn’t, keep your head held high and learn from your mistakes.

Life is a game of trial and error but along the way, you will be able to collect your very own wisdom and experience.

Be confident in your abilities and know that if it is meant to be, it will be.