Even if it makes you feel silly, do the thing!

There are many things that I would like to do that feel a little silly to do at first. Maybe you can relate. It can be anything, from learning a new skill, to putting yourself in a new situation, like public speaking for instance! These things always seem to feel a little weird at first because we're basically beginners. Or they might also feel weird because we are putting ourselves out there and exposing ourselves to criticism. And you know what? We'll probably get it! But that's OK because, in many cases, that might be what it has to take for us to get from where we are to where we want to be. Just take that first step even if you fail. You'll probably realize that it wasn't as bad as you thought it was going to be, and afterward you'll have a little experience under your belt to build from. And you probably won't fail in the first place! I don't know what it is about our minds jumping to the worst case scenarios and stirring up all kinds of anxiety when we're in certain situations, but it really doesn't do us any good (except for in life threatening situations)! But life or death scenarios aside, we need to push past the fear of failing at whatever we're trying to do, because that added stress is probably taking away from the performance of the task. If the anxiety is bad enough to make you not try it altogether, then it's definitely impeding your progress! I submitted something into a contest today that I know will not win since I listened to all of the competition. But I am satisfied with my effort and the fact that I submitted it even when a large part of me wanted to just forget about it. And I still feel a little silly about doing it right now. But I wouldn't take it back even if I could because this type of thing is what it's going to take for me to progress in this area. If there is something that you have been wanting to do but have been putting it off because you think you're not good enough or don't want to be exposed to criticism, or any other reason.....I invite you to take a first step toward that thing. Wise people say the path to success is paved with failure. Plus, you might just succeed!