Success > Fear

The possibility of success outweighs the fear of failure…such a beautiful reminder.

We are such fearful beings. I’m continually learning about this in many areas of my life. So many lessons with just my ACL recovery. It is truly WILD what our mind remembers from trauma and what it tells our body. Back in August 2025, I was 3 months post-op and was cleared to go out on the paddle boards. I remember being terrified of getting in the water, for fear that I couldn’t get back on my board. I was strong enough to get on the board, but the fear took over my mind.

Recently in physical therapy, my therapist put a box in front of me and asked me to jump up with both feet. Funny, with all the work I’ve done (7 months in), I hadn’t done this yet. I physically couldn’t jump on that box. We had a good laugh about it and he had ways to inch my way to doing this. Start with one foot, start by jumping down and then eventually, Voila – I did it. It was the weirdest feeling. My mind told me I couldn’t do it…but physically I was completely capable. Huh!

Let’s talk about this. When you just hear the word FEAR, what happens to your body? When you are faced with a tough decision, do you let fear take over? We face fearful situations of different magnitudes daily…even multiple times a day. There are so many different statistics out there – some say we make an average of 35,000 decisions a day – CRAZY!

It’s OK to be fearful of things, however, we shouldn’t let it stop us. Don’t let the fear win – take chances and try something new. I’m not saying we need to go jump off the nearest cliff and climb the highest mountain, but I am suggesting that each and every single day of your life, do one thing that scares you a little. Dip your toe into something you haven’t done before. If you look at the opposite and play life safe what excitement is there in that? Perhaps it’s age or the stage I’m in, I’m not sure, but I just want to share my experiences to maybe help inspire you to change it up a little and give you permission to do so.

I keep going back to this quote that multiple people have sent me and also came up all over my social media feeds of when you have your GPS on and you go in the wrong direction, it simply reroutes you. Mike drop – end of story. I don’t understand why we can’t live our lives like that. Who cares – you make a wrong turn or you make a wrong decision. Is it really ‘wrong’? It’s just a lesson. It’s just a path. It’s life-changing if you allow it to be. Sink into the lessons that it teaches you. Perhaps the path you thought was your destiny hits a bump and ends up being the most beautiful detour ever. I don’t know, sometimes you just have to rip off the Band-Aid and go after what you want in life. The path is never ever a straight line. It’s not necessarily easy, but my gosh, the journey, even the yucky stuff, it’s all a beautiful path and it’s your life to live, love and embrace.

Don’t let fear debilitate you. This could be something as small as going to a movie by yourself, riding a train for the first time or planting a garden…this doesn’t have to be BIG moves, although that works too. Sometimes the little things will catapult you into a big bold change. Embrace all of the ‘wrong’ turns and know that we are powerful beings and capable of SO much…the only thing EVER holding you back is YOU!

Go buy yourself some flowers and as always, thank you for being on this journey with me – together we can make a difference in our own lives and in the lives of others. Cheers to an epic 2026!