Fear Not . . .

Try new things. Former Senator Robert F. Kennedy once said, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” The truth is, no one looks forward to failing. We do not like to fail. We avoid it. We do everything in our power not to succumb to it. And when we do fail, we try to quickly fix it, cover it up, mask it. We try to make it look like, on the contrary, we had been planning the alternative all along. “I meant for that to happen,” “I actually wanted that to happen,” we convince ourselves.But often, the fear of failure stands in the way of new and undiscovered adventure. Our fear sometimes prevents us from trying new things. If you would have asked me even three years ago if I would ever try bungee jumping, I would have given you an instinctive and confident “no”. I would have told you that I would try almost anything else before I would ever try bungee jumping. Something about flinging myself off a cliff with an all too untrustworthy rope attached to me as my only safety measure did not seem like my ideal sense of adventure. But, I soon found that my fear would be challenged. In 2013, I studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. Not long into settling halfway across the world, I found out that South Africa housed the tallest bungee bridge in the world- Bloukrans Bridge which stands at 216 meters, or 709 feet above the Bloukrans River. While this attraction intrigued most of my friends, the thought of willingly falling nearly 700 feet terrified me. However, a few weeks later, much to my surprise, I found myself paying a questionably inexpensive $75 registration fee for my otherwise invaluable life. Today, the action of jumping off that bridge is almost as vivid as it was in the mere moments that had followed it, and the memory of that experience rings as one of the best experiences of my life.That day, my fear of bungee jumping almost cost me one of the best experiences of my life. It also almost cost me an invaluable lesson- that trying new things and, in doing so, discovering a newfound strength prepares us to offer all that we are to the world around us. The funny thing about fear is that it convinces us that we are not all we are created to be. It tells us not to go for that job, not to apply to that school, not to pursue that dream. It whispers to us that we are not strong enough, smart enough, talented enough, determined enough. Its deception is powerful and it does not spare a soul. But, when you know your worth and the inherent power in the uniqueness of who you are, you begin to question everything that fear is convincing you of and everything it is holding you back from. You begin to wonder, “Why can’t I apply for that grad school?”, “What is stopping me from going for that job?”, “Why aren’t I strong enough, brave enough, talented enough, good enough?” And, suddenly, when you realize that fear does not have a place in your life, the idea of failure holds no weight. You stop asking yourself, “What if I fail?” And instead challenge yourself, “But, what if I succeed?”While I am not encouraging everyone jump off a bridge, and while my fear of jumping off that bridge would have understandably crushed an otherwise brief sense of intrigue, that jump signaled an event that would remind me of the power within me for years to come. Overcoming my fear of bungee jumping empowered me to try something I would have never imagined doing nor ever thought I was capable of trying. You see, when we free ourselves of the hold fear has on our lives, we not only discover an inherent power within us, but we discover new destinations that power will lead us to and new uncoverings that power will unearth. The truth is, we have all overcome fear, and we have lived to humbly tell incredible, incomparable, and inconceivable stories because of it. We also have, at times, allowed fear to hold us back. While we undoubtedly learn from missed opportunities, and while we experience grace in the event that fear temporarily scores a win, we learn more about our own power and capability when we experience a world of opportunities from defeating fear. In those times and circumstances that we triumph over fear, we open a whole new world of opportunities that may have otherwise remained concealed. And when we open a new world of inexperience, informality, and thrill, not only do we grow in such an incomparable way, but we offer that growth to the world around us.So, may you free yourself to take a daring dive off whatever bridge stands in your way. May you experience the thrill and freedom in not only facing your fears, but triumphing over those fears. May you continue to take risks- apply to that grad school halfway across the world, go for that job, sacrifice familiarity, embrace the unexplained and unpredicted. Knowing the power within you and the uniqueness you have to offer the world, may you boldly venture out into the unknown, all the while, unafraid of failure. And, may you dare to fail, to fail again, and to get back up so that you can continue to try new things, unearth new discoveries, and offer those discoveries to the world.

The Beauty in the Process of Becoming

Maya Angelou said, “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” In the early days of elementary school, I was taught of the metamorphosis of a butterfly. I distinctly remember growing caterpillars and harvesting their cocoons in a tree nearby my childhood classroom. The week that we learned about the process in which a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly is still so evident in my mind. Every day, I would await the next school day, looking forward and counting down the days until the cocoons hatched and the butterflies emerged. Still, in literature and film, the metamorphosis of a butterfly is used to symbolize a spiritual or physical period of growth in which we expect a certain personal transformation. But, in these periods of growth, in our own personal metamorphosis, we often focus on the result of becoming a radiant butterfly, tending to overlook the changes we undergo that shape the intrinsic beauty of our wings. In making our new year’s resolutions, by which we may or may not have stuck to, we looked forward to the possibility of a new year. We thought of everything we wanted to achieve and of all the possibilities we thought we could be. We thought of all we had yet to do, those items on our bucket list left unchecked, all the places we have yet to see, and all our dreams we have yet to reach. We formed resolutions and goals, in part, based off what we have not yet accomplished. Alternatively, we formed resolutions based off all that we dreamt of achieving. As the excitement of a new year swiftly approached us, we were thinking of the result even long before the beginning of the year was upon us. We were thinking of the beautiful butterflies we would become before even making our cocoons. We were waiting to show off our beautiful wings and to explore the height that those wings would take us even while we were still caterpillars. While we have such adventure to look forward to in this next year, we must remember the inspiration in the every day. It is more than okay to be excited about the result, about the possibilities, and about the promise held within a new year, but it is important not to let our excitement about the result hamper our acceptance of present circumstances. We must be mindful in our present happenings so that we are able to be joyful in all circumstances. At times, we may find it difficult to be joyful in the midst of the calamity and the change. No doubt, we will face challenges, disappointment, discouragement, and failure, but we must acknowledge that those moments, even in their ugliness, play an important role in shaping our beauty. It is through those ugly, unpredictable moments, those times we wish not to remember and try vigorously to erase, that our beauty is more distinguished. It is for the beauty of becoming, that we must rejoice in the present. We must then find inspiration in the process of developing our wings. We must discover those sources of inspiration, seek out the people that encourage us and lift us up, visit those places that enlighten the truth and peace in our hearts, and invest in those moments that invigorate and revive us. For, it is in the midst of those moments that inspire us that those moments that have discouraged, disheartened, or challenged us become all the more worthwhile. When we focus on the present moments and how they are shaping and developing the wings by which we will soar, we will learn to value and rejoice in any moment, good or bad, invigorating or heartbreaking. We will come to value all these moments as the result of the intricacies that make our wings so distinct and unique for the purpose of our flight. We will come to love each moment and experience as they, without a doubt, aid our flight and amount to the joy in reaching our destination. But even more than that, we will come to love each moment and experience as they add inherent worth to our journey of becoming the people we are meant to be. Throughout the course of this month, we have discovered how reflection, rest, rediscovery, and revival will influence all the promise of this year. By remembering how years past have shaped us, by resting in what the present has to offer us, by learning to dream again, and by inspiring ourselves to courageously go forth in the direction of our dreams, we will learn to love not only the people we are becoming, but the process that we use in order to get there. We will then find beauty not only in the result of becoming all we have imagined to be and achieving that which is beyond our wildest dreams, but also in the process of becoming and achieving everything of our hearts desire. Let us now allow 2016 to become a collectivity of the moments in which we find inherent worth and dignity, that allow the beauty and intricacy of our wings to shine brighter than they ever could. With those wings, which we have grown and developed, let us soar to new heights and uncover unmapped destinations, so that we may be able to offer every unique part of ourselves in order to make our mark on this vastly beautiful world. As we continue into 2016, let us bravely spread our wings and soar. 

[Self Series] Empowering Yourself

Before every sports match, game, or even practice, sports teams allot time for warming up. During this time, they stretch to warm up their muscles and they perform drills and exercises in order to perfect their skills. This period of warming up is crucial for a successful or hard-fought game because it begins to condition the body and the mind for the duration of the game. Usually, right before a game, sports teams gather in huddles and go through a series of ceremonial practices in order to boost team morale. In essence, the time before any sports match or game is crucial for empowering the team and preparing the team for “battle”.So, as we close out this series, we should allot this time for our own “warm up”. In order to condition our minds and prepare our hearts and souls for the matches and battels we face every day, it is important to reflect on what we have learned, how we have grown, and what we have come to know about ourselves. Throughout this series, we have probed and prodded at areas in our lives in order to deeply evaluate our strength and our growth through that strength.First, we started with loving ourselves. We learned to love everything that has shaped and guided us to be the people we are today. We learned to love all the joys of becoming who we are along with the mess that has allowed us to stumble into the people we have become. By learning to love ourselves, we have found a deeper and more powerful love to share with the world around us. We continued with expressing ourselves. Here, we learned that there is authenticity, opportunity, authority, and freedom in the way that we express ourselves. Once we learn to rightfully and honestly express how we are feeling and what we are thinking, we give others the opportunity to listen and we allow ourselves to bridge communication gaps by listening in return. We then went on with overcoming self-doubt. We drew upon knowing ourselves and loving ourselves in order to speak truth into our circumstances and we reminded ourselves that we are capable of overcoming fear and doubt. But, we challenged ourselves to surround ourselves with people who will reiterate that truth and speak it into our lives when our voices grow weary. After that, we explored growing up and growing into ourselves. We learned to give ourselves grace while we are figuring out what it is we want to do and who it is we want to be. More importantly, we learned that we are living with each choice we make and each risk we take, each failure we undergo and each success we achieve. For, life is the accumulation of our actions in the simple and little moments which build up our character and prepare us in the event that we take on a paramount task. We continued with seeing ourselves. Here, we learned that the power to love ourselves, be secure with ourselves, and respect ourselves is stronger than any other power that could be given to us by another person. We learned to see ourselves and treat ourselves in such a way that we shower ourselves with the love and worth that we deserve. We learned to settle down with ourselves. We learned to give ourselves the slack that we so desperately want to throw to someone else because, in the end, the way we know ourselves and treat ourselves is a reflection of the power we have within us. Then, we went on with dignifying ourselves. We learned that we are worth it, that our uniqueness gifts us with an influence that no one else in this world has. We challenged ourselves to live according to our worth and to act out of that worth. Finally, we embraced believing in ourselves. We learned to believe in our strength and character, in who we are and who we aspire to be. Likely, we learned to believe and invest in our dreams, for when we allow our dreams to soar, we welcome the opportunity of impacting the world.And now, we understand that all these areas of loving ourselves and growing into ourselves leads to empowering ourselves. Through constantly growing in loving ourselves, expressing ourselves, overcoming self-doubt, growing up, seeing ourselves, dignifying ourselves, and believing in ourselves, we will be all the more capable of empowering ourselves. Through this empowerment, we will realize and know our strength to continue to become all we can be. We will push ourselves to learn more about ourselves and more about the world. We will use the love we have grown for ourselves in order to better love those around us. In making our mark in this world, we will use what we have come to know about ourselves: our strength in times of fear and doubt, our perseverance in times of strife, our certainty in times of darkness, and our joy, knowledge, and passion in times of persecution. You see, when we continually grow in these areas, when we push ourselves beyond the limits we thought we could reach, we are empowering ourselves to be the best versions of ourselves. Once we keep elevating the mark of our “best version” we continue to empower ourselves, and in doing so, we empower those around us. Our reach, then, surpasses the mark we set for ourselves and reaches the mark that we have been inspired to set for others. As we continue to push ourselves to love ourselves more, express ourselves more, know ourselves more, and believe in ourselves more, we inspire others to do the same. So, a community of people who are continually empowering themselves and one another have the power to impact the world, to rid the deepest of oppression, to replace the darkest sorrow with the most exuberant joy, and to spread love and light to the farthest ends of the earth.Now that we are all warmed up, let us go forth into our worlds, into our daily lives, and spread our unique influence. Let us live with courage, strength, truth, and dignity. Let us give others the strength to live with passion and authenticity. Now that we are all warmed up, let us put up a good fight against daily battles because we know that our influence is significant, our courage is undeniable, and our story is worth being told.