The Ugly Truth About Struggle

I have no idea what I had in mind when I came up with this as a topic. But now, it makes me laugh out loud. I mean, the ugly truth about struggle? Sometimes I just haven’t had enough or maybe it’s too much caffeine to come up with a catchy blog post title. But I’ve laid out some ideas for the month and I hope you find them inspiring or resourceful in your own journey.

The Ugly Truth About Struggle

Plain and simple. Fear.  I don’t care who you are or where you come from, we all struggle with various fears on a daily basis. It’s one thing that unites us all, but it’s also something we don’t talk about very often. We don’t want to admit when we’re afraid. Instead, we often hear much more about hate, anger, jealousy, and criticism which only further leads to more fear. What if we just started talking more about what scares us? Why do we struggle with fear?

Fear

Fear can be crippling to anyone. As someone who has suffered from a sheltered childhood, it wasn’t until my late 20’s where I stepped out of my shell and decided enough is enough. I didn’t want to be afraid to live life. Sure I’ve made numerous mistakes along the way and there are things in life that have happened that I hadn’t planned or wanted but I’ve learned I can’t let those mistakes take over my life. I’ve learned from them and moved on. Fear of moving on, would put me right back into that sheltered life where I started. And that’s not where I want to be in life. 

Almost 11 years ago, my husband and I decided to move to our home now in Penn Valley, California. It was fearful. Moving to a town outside of my normal surroundings.  Some people think that I (we) ran away from the negative issues surrounding us. For me personally, I didn’t run away. I moved on to better my life. I wasn’t going to fear living a life I knew could be better not just for me emotionally and financially but for the two young children we had to care for. They have no one and I mean no one who has proven that they will always be there for them but my husband and I. Maybe, just maybe one day others may come around, but life’s too short to wait.

If left truly unchallenged in life, I believe our fears can multiply beyond belief. I personally have as I mentioned and I’m sure many others can relate,  having that fear of failure,  of making mistakes, the  judgment from ourselves and others, health of myself and loved ones, not being worthy or deserving, disappointing myself and others. I’ve even feared on some days that I won’t be able to overcome those fears. And sometimes those fears are on a smaller scale, but they seem difficult nonetheless.

With that being said, I believe that fear can be truly motivating, “Oh I don’t want to mess up my contract or proposal at work, so I’m going to practice and research every day this week so I get it right.” or  it can be very demotivating, “I messed up and feel like a complete idiot, so I won’t make myself that vulnerable in front of others ever ever again.” Can you relate to any of this???

 Because of our fears and in spite of our fears, no matter how big or how small they may seem to some,  I’m making a special challenge for the month of August.  Where we no longer struggle with fear but we challenge it. This month I’m personally challenging myself and any of you who are interested to take control of our fears, whatever they may be!

August Goals

I absolutely love this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt.  And it’s perfect for what I’m trying to accomplish this month in my own journey. My challenge for August is to do one thing a day that scares you.

The beauty of this challenge is that ONLY YOU define it. You make the rules and decide what is challenging for you.  What are you struggling with? We all know ourselves better than anyone and it’s up to us to define our struggles and challenge them in a way that meets our own needs to reach whatever goals we have.

I currently have some things in my life that are holding me back and I’ll be working daily this month to challenge fears and negativity and make more room for personal growth.

To keep myself accountable, I’m logging my daily struggles and fears in my planner each day next to my #NAMEYOURDAY.  I’m going to use my Name Your Day word to overcome those struggles and fears. By the end of the month, I’ll hopefully have a daily log of large and small fears that I overcame. The end result is intended to build confidence, inspire new personal challenges, and remind ourselves that we are more powerful than we know.

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”
― Marie Curie

Here’s to August!

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