Do It Afraid.

My first post! I’m so excited, and also very nervous to officially launch my blog and make it public.

I love writing, and it has always been one of my areas of strength. I believe I’m a more effective communicator via written discourse than I am via verbal. I like to sit and process an answer or response before actually giving an answer or stating an opinion. Writing allows me to do that.

I had the idea of starting a blog months ago. I’m a recent grad and started working full time at the beginning of 2015. While working 40 hours a week is cool, I was bored and just frankly unfulfilled. In college, and even high school, I was very active. In college, I had anywhere from 2-3 jobs at a time and carrying a full course load. I was always tired, but I loved staying active and being busy. I’m one of those people that flourish in high volume settings. So when I was just working 1 job, I had too much time on my hands. I started to really assess my interests and how I can turn them into productive and fulfilling hobbies. That’s when something in me told me to start a blog. That was months ago.

So you’re probably asking, “If you had this idea months ago, why are you just now starting it?” To be 100% transparent, I was afraid. Afraid of being judged by the content, afraid people wouldn’t be receptive, afraid it wouldn’t measure up to the billions of other blogs out there.

Fear, sometimes, is a good thing. Healthy, even. A small amount of fear can let you know that you’re headed in the right direction or making a good choice. When you really love someone or something, or you’re unquestionably and unambiguously passionate about a certain thing, a level of fear will be present.

But when fear stabilizes you, and you’re too afraid to pursue the things that are on your heart and mind to do with your life is when it becomes problematic. And like most things in life, this kind of fear was a choice.

I had this idea in mind. I did my research on how to start it and what I wanted to write about. I even wrote the first post (hopefully you’ll read it next). But it’s been in my draft folder for months because I decided that I was going to be afraid of something that presently does not exist. I also chose to be afraid.

I also chose to be negative. I never thought, “What if people like my work? What if they are receptive to it? How can I use this as a tool to further my career?” I put myself in a negative head space that aided my fear, which stopped me in my tracks from pursuing something I really wanted to do. How stupid, right?

Some how do you overcome it? Recognize and acknowledge the space you’re in. Are you just a little fearful because you care that person or that project so much? Or are you allowing fear to block you from a potential blessing? If it is the latter, just how you can choose to be afraid, you can also choose to do it afraid (hence the title. see what I did there).

Who care if people like it? If you’re doing it for the approval of people, chances are you’re doing it for the wrong reasons anyway. Who care if they judge you. You’re going to be judged anyway.

There are something in life you can not control. It’s going to be what it’s going to be and you’re going to have to learn to be at peace with it. But life is also about choices. You can choose to be fearful or chose to overcome. You can be stagnant or you can progress.

I am human enough to acknowledge that I was afraid to do this, but I’m also man enough to recognize that fear and overcome it by choosing to progress. And hopefully, I helped someone in the process.