Fear of failure, fear of success, or fear of change

Why are we usually our own greatest enemy? Why do we let fear keep us from completely and totally fulfilling our dreams and aspirations? I believe it is probably attributed to either one, two, or all three of the following: fear of failure, success, and/or change!

Fear of failure, which can bring us down to sub levels of self worth, and feelings of doubt in our purpose in this world, thus leading to a sense of hopelessness.

Fear of success is a bit tricky. At first success brings immediate joy and happiness, but is often followed by stress and anxiety based on having to live up to our newly found achievements on a consistent basis.

Fear of change kind of encompasses both above, as fear of the unknown is just that, unknown and unpredictable, a place many just do not do well in these days.

It would appear we live in a world where our desire for the adventure has been squashed by mundane lifestyles and predictability. Unlike the chance takers which helped found our great nation, who risked everything including the lives of themselves and their families; their ambition was to live out the desires of their hearts.

Fear itself is from Satan, as he would like nothing better than our lives to feel useless, fruitless, and incomplete. But we have the opportunity to choose to move forward into uncharted territories, chase our dreams, and live as we were intended to do.

I choose to do this by publicly trying my hand as a writer and if I fail, well...at least I can say I certainly tried! Either way, success or not, I choose not to just settle; and my hope is you will also step out in faith and chase your dreams too! Besides, we can always simply smile and just move on :)

Mall in the Rain with Two Kids in tow

First let me say clearly, I am so NOT a mall person anyway; but I had a $40.00 off certificate at Dick's and free undies at VS, and both were running out of time. This propelled us to take a trip to the mall in the pouring rain today. It was raining so hard it wasn't even worth trying to get out the stroller, or CCU (child containment unit) as I fondly call it :) So needless to say, chasing Luke around the store, hiding under clothes racks, and an overwhelming fear he could slip away and get lost was about to send this Momma right over the edge. Now add in a preteen with an attitude and her own agenda and voila! A very stressed out situation escalating at record speed!!! We then get undeniably lost inside the mall itself trying to find our way to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. In my defense, I have only been in the mall two other times, so I am not completely familiar with where everything is and multi-story made it worse. I am certain you can feel the love going around among the kids and I! What else can you do, smile and just move on...

Life is a Highway...

If life is a highway, I should probably get new windshield wipers to help see clearer during rain and storm, not check my rear view mirror so often, and surrender my road rage :)  You see, or should I say, you know, life is hard and lucky breaks are hard to come by.  Just when you think you have life under control, BAM, out of nowhere comes something you didn't expect or want for that matter. What can you do but smile and just move on...