“I guess I’m afraid of embarrassment.

I guess maybe that’s the ultimate fear…The deepest humiliation would be [that] you caught me believing in myself.

You caught me believing in myself and then the thing failed.

And I’m not even embarrassed about the failures as much as you caught me believing in myself.

That somehow [believing in myself] would be a sin.”

– Dax Shepard on his podcast Armchair Expert with Jordan Peele

Something that isn’t talked about enough is the fear that comes with taking risks in the pursuit of building a life that’s aligned with who we truly are. It requires a certain amount of courage to intentionally go against the grain, and even more so when such undertakings are done publicly. Because making these changes cannot be done without having raw faith in our own abilities, our own vision, our own decisions, and most significantly, ourselves. The scariest aspect of experimenting with the different possibilities of how life can look is the inevitable consequence of failure. Despite all of the effort and the best of intentions that can be put behind an action, nothing is guaranteed to be a success. Nothing. The silver lining amongst all of the uncertainty that comes along with putting yourself out there is that no matter the outcome, eventually each mistake and achievement stacks on top of each other to form knowledge that otherwise wouldn’t have been obtained if you didn’t take action. At the end of the day, knowledge is the greatest gift an experience can reward you with. Although intangible, the new outlook or way of doing things that the piece of information reaps is invaluable to not only our growth but discovering how we can operate as our optimal selves. The collective embarrassment of actually believing in ourselves in the face of failure raises questions surrounding the way success is conventionally viewed. What if success was measured as the quality of the learning lessons extracted from an experience, or the positive impact it brings forth, rather than solely being confined to the amount of recognition and monetary value generated? What would the world look like if more people dared to see an idea through and willingly leave their comfort zone, even if just for a little bit? Believe in yourself, even if it tends to feel like one of the most embarrassing things in the world. I dare you.

💘 Hanna