Be courageous

I used to be a closet writer. No, I don’t mean I wrote in a closet, though I would if there were twinkly lights, a nest of blankets, and a toasty beverage. But I kept my writing private. Too much discouragement had been spoken over me, and those external comments became internal criticisms that haunted me.

I was afraid that if I revealed my writing to the world, I would fail. And because of that fear, I decided to keep my writing private where it would never be judged by anyone but me. That was safe. That was comfortable.

However, God brought my husband into my life, and he encouraged me to try and share my writing with the world. Didn’t he understand how scary that was!?

What if I didn’t measure up?

After a lot of internal debating, I published Criss Cross. Was the book perfect? Not at all. Would I have done things differently if I knew then what I know now? Absolutely. And that’s okay. Looking back and seeing what we would’ve done differently is a sign that we’ve grown.

Through trying, I’ve learned to do it better. I learned what I’m truly capable of, and it’s so much more than those internal voices led me to believe.

If you dream of doing something, don’t let fear stand in your way. Don’t let external criticism become your internal monologue. You CAN succeed… if you’re courageous enough to step out of your comfortable little space you’re hiding in and try.

If we never try, we can hold on to the hope of success without ever experiencing what we fear–failure.

But success will never be anything more than an unreachable dream.

It’s through failure that we learn to do something different, through trying that we hone our methods, and through giving it our all that we learn just what we’re made of.

Try. Fail. Try again. Succeed.

C.C. Warrens