Have you ever sat and watched a child roam free? My 16-month old baby nephew comes to mind when I think about being able to move freely in the world. Babies will crawl and explore everything. If they see something they want, they are determined to do all they can to get it. If it is literally out of their reach, meaning that what they want is placed higher than them, they will verbally let you know. If it is below their reach, they will go down to get it and bring it back up, even if it’s down a flight of stairs. Because of their extreme lack of fear, we find ourselves watching them carefully to prevent them from getting hurt, but we should also watch them to learn a few things about life. 
It’s amazing how a 4-letter word will hold you back from reaching your true potential. I used to be afraid of many things. I’ve been afraid of ending a relationship. I’ve been afraid of moving out of Michigan. I’ve been afraid of starting my own business. Because of fear, I had indefinitely postponed accomplishing my goals and finding my true calling. What’s even more ironic and mind-boggling is that as I allowed myself to be held captive by fear, there were people who were less talented, accomplishing those same goals I had for myself!!!
Fear will hold you back if you let it. You really have to ask yourself what are you really afraid of and what’s the worst that could happen. Recently, I shared that I was currently afraid of trusting someone to perform certain business tasks on my behalf. The “Virgo” in me is a perfectionist and I have high standards for the work that I produce or endorse. I know that in order for me to accomplish my dream of building my own boutique marketing agency, I would have to overcome the fear of trusting someone to assist me in certain areas so that I can continue to build my business; otherwise, I would not have a viable business. I would have a time-consuming hobby instead. In order to grow personally and professionally, I have to let go of that fear and be willing to trust others in order to build my team.
After that conversation with my friend, I quickly got over it. Why? Because after all that I’ve been through, there is absolutely nothing that I don’t fear when it comes to business. When you’ve hit your personal rock bottom, you have absolutely nowhere to go but up. Even if you haven’t hit your rock bottom, you have to ask yourself if you’re truly happy with where you’re at in your life. I think people get comfortable and complacent, but are not truly happy. Personally, I would rather be temporarily uncomfortable in order to be happy for a lifetime. It is all about personal growth and development. If you don’t succeed within your expected time frame, at the least, you can say that you’ve tried. It’s just a matter of you being committed to never giving up.
My baby nephew sees my family walking around and going up and down the stairs all of the time. Although he is an expert at crawling and could win a baby race if there ever was one, he refuses to give up on his attempts at walking. No matter how many times he falls or drops to his butt, he continues on, with no fear in sight. Like babies, don’t let fear stand in your way of walking.
Now it’s your turn. Has fear held you hostage? How did you break free? Or are you still being held captive?