Face the fear and the sky is the limit!

Courage is not the lack of fear but the ability to face it. - Lt. John B. Putnam Jr

Mission accomplished – I successfully got my blog networked with my Facebook page and my posts are now going directly to Facebook as well. That’s all well and good, until I had a moment (several agonising moments actually) of fear. See it’s one thing to write a blog and send it out into the world for people to read who don’t know you. It’s an entirely different thing when you put it out there for those who know you.

I seriously considered pulling it down, did I really want those who know and love me to read how I really felt. The thing is, I learnt something very important yesterday, to want to be a writer is simple – you can spout about it as much as you want. To actually put yourself out there is the challenge, whether it be blog, book, poetry, opinions, whatever.

Because once you put it out there, you open yourself up to rejection and judgement. Which in essence is what being a writer is all about. I felt somewhat better and my fear had abated marginally by last night, 49 new page views on my blog and positive comments on Facebook, so maybe they were just being nice, but at least they were reading it and had commented.

I write for two reasons, because it’s a part of who I am but also because I hope that I can make a difference. We all face challenges in life and sometimes reading how someone else coped with a similar challenge makes battling through things that little bit easier – we don’t feel so alone.

I’ve been blogging since July last year and have been getting braver the longer I am here. One person who has helped me through the challenging first few months is Louise – she comments regularly and makes me feel like what I have to say is relevant. In fact, I think she makes everyone who reads her blog feel relevant.

So I’ve achieved my first step of getting it out there with this blog, next step is finishing my book and sending that out into the world. I’ve reached just over 42,000 words so progress is slow but steady. Who would have ever thought I would get this far, but I’m facing my fears and persevering, no matter how hard it seems at times.

I read somewhere recently that while it takes talent to be a writer you can develop a large part of it, what can’t be learnt is that it also takes determination, drive and the will to succeed. When you get knocked down by rejection you have to be able to get back up again and keep battling on. When you would rather be doing anything but writing, you have to put your butt in the chair, persevere and keep writing.

I image that this is the same for any challenge, be it sport, art, music, family – Life! You just have to keep going, no matter what the obstacles are and no matter how unlikely achieving the goal is – we have to keep chipping away and giving it our best effort.

For all of you who are yet to step outside your comfort zone, why not give something new a go (no matter what it is) because once you face the fear – the sky is the limit.

To all of you reading this post who have stepped outside your comfort zones and pushed yourselves just that little bit further – here’s to us achieving amazing things.

I would love to hear from anyone who has faced the fear and done it anyway.

Famous people who refused to give up – here are just a few that I found here

Thomas Edison: In his early years, teachers told Edison he was "too stupid to learn anything." Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Of course, all those unsuccessful attempts finally resulted in the design that worked
Harland David Sanders: Perhaps better known as Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, Sanders had a hard time selling his chicken at first. In fact, his famous secret chicken recipe was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted it.
Walt Disney: Today Disney rakes in billions from merchandise, movies and theme parks around the world, but Walt Disney himself had a bit of a rough start. He was fired by a newspaper editor because, "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." After that, Disney started a number of businesses that didn't last too long and ended with bankruptcy and failure. He kept plugging along, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked
Albert Einstein: Most of us take Einstein's name as synonymous with genius, but he didn't always show such promise. Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven, causing his teachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped, slow and anti-social. Eventually, he was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. It might have taken him a bit longer, but most people would agree that he caught on pretty well in the end, winning the Nobel Prize and changing the face of modern physics
Oprah Winfrey: Most people know Oprah as one of the most iconic faces on TV as well as one of the richest and most successful women in the world. Oprah faced a hard road to get to that position, however, enduring a rough and often abusive childhood as well as numerous career setbacks including being fired from her job as a television reporter because she was "unfit for tv."
Stephen King: The first book by this author, the iconic thriller Carrie, received 30 rejections, finally causing King to give up and throw it in the trash. His wife fished it out and encouraged him to resubmit it, and the rest is history, with King now having hundreds of books published the distinction of being one of the best-selling authors of all time

And there’s heaps more ......