In February, my mentor, and friend, asked me a question about my recent writings….

A question that I’ve answered many times before with ease.

“𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟?”

As I began to articulate my reasons, I felt it.

I felt my eyes well up, that feeling that seems move its way up our body, as if water was moving towards our eyes, from our feet or something.

At first, I attempted to hold them back, and paused my story.

Then I would start telling my story again, and as you would guess, the sensation to let the tears slide down the side of my face grew.

And so I let them.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟…

“𝑃𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒”

“𝑂𝑢𝑐ℎ, 𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙”

𝐍𝐎.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁…

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲, 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁.

The best way to articulate this, imagine for a moment, the love for…

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞

And ask yourself, “ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦?”

When you truly connect to that love for them, not just logically, but really feel it, you will understand the kind of tears that streamed down my face as I spoke.

So often, and I have done this for many years, we want to hide away from sharing with others, things that are.. truly unique to us, that drive our actions, our focus, our life.

𝐀𝐧𝐝, 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭, 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐒!

Because that’s how we miss out on developing rewarding relationships with..

𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧

𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬

𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐬….𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬!

Some reading this may say, “𝑜ℎ, 𝑠𝑜 𝐼 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑔𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠?”

NOPE. NOT WHAT I’M SAYING 🙂

I say that, because four years ago, that would have been me.

I would have scoffed at the idea of being truthful with those around me, and in my life, because I thought the world was out to get me, so 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭, 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞.

And you know what, those defenses were not strength, they were 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐑!

Fear that comes from the “risk” of…

𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐕𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 / 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧

𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 / 𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝

𝐁𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐆….𝐘𝐎𝐔

All fears about “𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑀𝐼𝐺𝐻𝑇 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝐼’𝑚 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓”

𝐈𝐅 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐥

𝐈𝐅 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐝

𝐈𝐅 𝐈, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 (𝐲𝐞𝐬, 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬) 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞

OR, dare I say, cry in front of someone.

Fear creates separation, disconnection, and isolation.

Life is too short to live in our self made walls. They are not protecting us from anything, 99% of the time. Other than protecting us from truly experiencing the best in our life.

The people in it.

I’m grateful that I now have friendships and partnerships, where I’m just cool with being me.

And even more importantly, accepted for being me. And if not, that’s cool. Others will :). I intend on living this wa

𝑃𝑆: 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑡, 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠..

1.𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑓𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛?

2.𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠?

3.𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠?

4.𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑓𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝐹𝐴𝐶𝑇𝑆?

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“𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛, 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑠𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑧𝑒𝑠. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡, 𝑠𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑡.”

— 𝑆𝑒𝑡ℎ 𝐺𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑛