“I want to try.”
It isn’t some grand, heroic statement of valor.
Or is it?
Trying is more than most people do in a lifetime. “I want to try” is a claim of intent that carries world-shaking power. For it is the most a human being can do.
The great men and women of history did one thing differently. They tried with vigor. After being shot down, they kept trying, only with more vigor. They tried so much that eventually, the world said, “ok, fine, I’m sick of fighting you.”
[box style=”info”]Remember how Sylvester Stallone kept trying?[/box]
And here I am. A lowly writer without fame, fortune, or a girlfriend. I’m fine without those, but as for writing, I want to try. I could try to write the greatest story ever told (or even a decent one), guide Deep Existence into a top blog, and see the wonders of the world with no cash in my wallet.
I have never really tried to push the limits in my 26 years. I assume there are limits to push me back into reality. What if they aren’t there? What if they push me back and I figure out a way around them? What’s really stopping me? If I were to walk up to a limit and touch it, what would I find?
Fear.
If You’re Not Trying, You’re Afraid
You know what scares me? The fact that fear can control our lives. People die with fears they’ve held since a young age. Fears that stopped them from being who they wanted to be.
To live your dreams means any other way terrifies and baffles you. Why would we do anything else but try for what we really want in life? No other strategy makes sense. Those who can’t do it are stuck. Knee deep in concrete. With their fear. They see the light, but cannot move towards it.
Let’s crush fear with a couple of reckless rhinoceroses. Shall we?
I want to live true to myself. I want to live in a way that is a direct extension of my soul to the world. Don’t you? I think you do. We all do! It’s why the answer to so many questions is “be yourself.” You were meant to be you and nothing else. But fear ruins that possibility because the things that we love are the most fragile to us. They scare us the most.
We’re smart though.
A quick cause-effect analysis tells us that inaction accomplishes nothing and does not protect what we love. The only way to preserve our hopes and dreams is to press on. I’m asking you (and me) to step out and try. Fail a little. Fail a lot. Cast aside your fears and give yourself a chance.
Since I’ve not been trying, I’ll make an example out of myself. These questions are related to writing, as I want to write more, but you can imagine what similar questions might be relevant to you and what your life is missing.
- Why is it that you’ve never made a concerted effort to write a full-length book? Or two? Or fifteen?
- How many times have publishers rejected you? Zero? That’s how many submissions you’ve made, isn’t it?
- Why haven’t you been actively getting others to critique your writing? This is available for free on the web.
- Why aren’t you trying?
Those questions defeat my excuses. They grab me by the collar – I’m shirtless right now, so make that collarbone – and slam my bare back against the wall, and they force me to respond, but all I can do is shake my head and say, “I know. I know. I’m not even trying.”
Worst of all, there isn’t financial risk in writing and yet I hesitate! I need to try to write a compelling story. It might be terrible. But it would be a charming failure, and I would learn from it. I could write 57 bad stories, 20 average ones, and then a masterpiece on the 78th. That’s lots of failure to fight through, but since I enjoy writing, it’s fun.
If what you really want out of life involves a massive amount of money, you should do some risk assessment and brainstorming for possible ways to get it done. Whatever you do, break it into small, actionable steps, to give the “huge project” a “this is possible” perspective. Writers can rest easy knowing that War and Peace was written one word at a time.
Your dreams are what make you come alive, so failure while racing around the “dream track” can be fun. If it is painful, it will play a vital role in your eventual success if you keep trying. Pain makes learning more effective. I haven’t touched the oven rack in more than two weeks!
Internal struggles can be significant. I can write for free, but I still have fear. I fear putting too much time into something that doesn’t work out. I fear that my passion will change overnight and that I should have be practicing for professional archery.
This concept is as old as dust, but have you taken in it’s wisdom? Have you accepting it as a core value – to try and if it fails, try again? Maybe it’s too simple for to you believe that you don’t already know it. Ask yourself – why aren’t you there yet? The answer is either a lot of failure or a lack of trying.
You know it. You can see it. The only real obstacle is you and your weakness is fear. Find a way to eliminate or bypass your fears and something odd will happen…
There will be no stopping you.