Have you ever had something you’ve wanted to do for the longest time, but found reasons to slow yourself down while simultaneously push yourself to move forward?

That’s been my story with this blog.

While jogging about a month before this post—jogging, another personal challenge with it’s own story dating back to High School—I was inspired to share messages of inspiration daily. I asked myself how, and this blog came to mind.

That morning I decided to try to buy my domain name once again. I had been trying for the last decade, but there was another Sheron Brown who was a literacy teacher…odd because I used to be a literacy teacher. Anyhow, the name was finally available!

I had a very clear vision of what I wanted to do and how I should do it, but still I found reasons to slow my progress. I believe I was subconsciously sabotaging my own efforts. Why? The same silly reason we tend to block ourselves: choosing to live small out of fear. Name your fear: fear of what others will think, fear of failure, fear of not knowing what to say, and the crazy list can go on and on. And with each passing day I was allowing the fear to win. I was allowing my ego to win.

Recently I read, “As long as I allow the ego to hold me back, I am holding others back—the ones waiting for me.”

If you are here with me, you are a part of the “others.” Thank you for joining me, and I hope to be a blessing to you.

Now, think of yourself: what are you holding back on by not pursuing your dreams, goals or desires? And who are you holding back by choosing to be small?

Here’s what I’ve learned: the only way for the fear to go away is to do the thing you are afraid of. You can’t pray it away, read it away, talk it away, think it away or cry it away. The only way for fear to go away is to feel the fear and do the thing anyway!

Allow yourself to feel the fear and do it anyway! Allow yourself to be bold. Take a step forward today despite the fear you may be feeling, be the bigger confident self inside of you and say with me “I AM confident.”

If you can relate, I’d love to hear from you. So leave me a comment below so that together we can connect and inspire!