what if you do one thing everyday that scares you and after a while you are just plain ... exhausted?

Thanks for your inspiration! I read your blog about doing something if you knew you couldn't fail on the same day I read a friend's blog about finally moving past the fear and making a dentist appt after too many years without going.
The combination of the two motivated me to finally call a local gallery I have desperately wanted to get my artwork into. Anyway, it led to an interview w/ the owner and she wants to carry my work! So mark another win down for the little guy!! Thanks for being part of the thing that pushed me past the fear! :)

Thank you.

I just read the last two years of your blog, and so much of every word, I could of written myself. I have never felt so alone in all of this child-bearing-- or lack of it.

So much of this has given me hope, that if someone up there ever decided that I might have the chance to be a mom again, I hope I could be a mom like you.

thank you

andrea,

i just returned home from toronto and teaching my first workshop. teaching was one of the things i let fear prevent me from doing.

it is true the things that scare us bring us the most joy. my workshop went smoothly, everyone had a great time and made awesome things to take home. all my students said they almost never leave a class with things they are proud of. but this class was different for them. how's that for success? yay me!

i expected to go in my first day feeling nervous. to my surprise i was nervous for a second and then everything just fell into place. i never imagined i would fall in love with teaching and i have.

i'm looking forward to more teaching experiences and to challenging myself to do check more things off my list of 'things that scare me'. using fear to propel us forward is powerful. thanks again andrea for the great questions and encouragement to enrich our lives.

"The things that scare us are often what bring us the most joy." I love that!

the things that scare me:

taking a leap to have:

success
being free and happy
&
a cigarette-free life

what am I doing about it?

quitting smoking--this leap is so uncomfortable and scary that I feel other leaps might be pretty easy in comparison (like the leap of faith to envicion a successful, *yes* filled life instead of a *no-filled* life.

and as I don't smoke--I'm successful, you guys! and I begin to understand that this is freedom and happiness!

thanks for reading xo,
pritha

the things that scare me:

taking a leap to have:

success
being free and happy
&
a cigarette-free life

what am I doing about it?

quitting smoking--this leap is so uncomfortable and scary that I feel other leaps might be pretty easy in comparison (like the leap of faith to envicion a successful, *yes* filled life instead of a *no-filled* life.

and as I don't smoke--I'm successful, you guys! and I begin to understand that this is freedom and happiness!

thanks for reading xo,
pritha

Andrea,
Sometimes I think what is the meaning of our life, if we don't reach to our highest potential and do what we can do it, and dream it?
Really what is the meaning of life?

Sometimes I come here and read your words and I sort of melt inside, and I can feel myself open and breathe deeper and clearer.
You are right about being okay, perfect, just as we are, and that it is enough, super hero enough. (and while I'm at it, I LOVE that you call this the super hero journal. it makes me feel I've found a kindred).
Thank-you for asking questions and for this: being compassionate and honest and radiant.

Okay: I totally faked out in my answer to the "can't fail" post. I would, actually, write my book if I knew I couldn't fail, and I am, actually, writing my book (even if it's not the book I dream of writing one of these days). But what I'd really do if I knew I couldn't fail is fall head over heels in love with someone head over heels in love with me. And I don't understand how to decide to do that, since part of the pattern I want to shake involves my being head over heels for people who *aren't* head over heels for me, and trying and trying to be swell enough that they'll realize I'm awesome and fall for me, too. So I'm going to write this all down here, in your comments section--just so that I'll have said it out loud, just so that it can float out there in the world as something I've said aloud again. I'm still my superhero self, and I'm so glad you said that, but I want a superhero partner, too, and it's sometimes hard for me to trust that he actually is out there somewhere wanting me as well. (Thanks for making space for us to say these things.)

thank you for posting that we are ok just as we are

You inspire me every day. you help my creative thoughts flow for my own blog-and help me to ask questions to myself, like-why am i worrying? i've got a wonderful life ahead of me to live-why be afraid. just on in. Thank you.

do you know what has happened since you posted the oct 11th 'what would you do' post? i have started to learn french...again. i have gotten my canvases out, and am ready to paint. as for the traveling...right now it's just needing to save money. but oh i wlll!!
so thank you for posting it. because i've realized that my dreams were very attainable. i just had to make the decision to pursue them. and from there who knows where life will take me!
much love to you andrea!! ~celisa

"the things that scare us often bring us the most joy..." this is very interesting and I have cut and pasted this saying and put it before me so that I see it every day....I feel as though my whole life has been to "do" for others....my kids, my husband and now my aging mom...I am trapped in my own life and am too "scared" to break free...Now in my forties...I know I want more but don't know HOW to get it..and the fear of getting it overwhelms me....I thank you for this post...for this gentle little line about fear...In order to live I do need to risk...and that is very very hard when you have always tried to "control" and play it safe....

xxoKathleen

I once had a wise life coach tell me, "Fear does not rule out joy." In fact, she believed you should include at least one thing in each day that frightens you--sometimes it can be something small like going to a restaurant by yourself (of course fear is subjective and this might prove to be a great fear for others...) or it can be something medium like telling somebody, "No, I don't want to serve on the Board at this time--thanks for thinking I'd do a good job, though." or it can be something ENORMOUS like quitting your stable job to pursue your dream of hiking the entire Crest Trail.

What I'm finding as I embark on a life that is completely different from the one that felt familiar and safe even though it was slowly smothering my spirit, is that doing things I never thought I could before is actually invigorating physically as well as emotionally and spiritually. I've sort of taken on the idea the worst that can happen is I'll make a mistake, and if that's the case, I will then have the opportunity to learn something from the experience without the shame of what would've happened in the bounds of my marriage had the same thing taken place.

I saw a cool sign at a bookstore this week that read: Believe in it -- Take action on it -- See it come true.

I wish for all of you to live on the verge of infinite possibilities!

snakes???

no way. noooooo way.

This photo made me laugh because i was just talking with a friend who has my name listed in her mail as Talia, Talia. I can imagine that this is how many of me there needs to be so that I'll have enough to go around. So the idea of multiples of me, me, and then seeing the multiples of you, you, you, you.

To answer your question all the same, my answer is this:

If I couldn't fail, what would I do? I would raise my sons to have the best hearts.

I am trying as much as I can, fail or no fail.

To answer your question all the same, my answer is this:

If I couldn't fail, what would I do? I would raise my sons to have the best hearts.

I am trying as much as I can, fail or no fail.

That mirror is AWESOME.

Also, I'm going to use that last line as a quote in a future post. That makes you like famous and right up there with AA Milne.

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver
published by Atlantic Monthly Press
© Mary Oliver

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver
published by Atlantic Monthly Press
© Mary Oliver

Inspiration is an amazing gift. You are amazing.

So true. What I'm scared of is also the thing I want most in the world.

"The things that scare us are often what bring us the most joy."

My amazing, beautiful, can't live without him son. I can't believe how long I put it off being so scared of pregnancy.

Thanks for your supportive words, A. I've been thinking about your previous post, almost non-stop, since I first read it. I never responded because I realized that I don't have my dreams completely in order yet (which may be a dream in itself). I have a horrible fear of failure, yet I know that failing is okay - we learn from our mistakes. If we never failed then nothing would really have that sense of joy, of completion, of success. Yet, I wish I could grasp this completely and attempt things I am truly afraid of trying because I am so scared of failure.

Apparently I'm still sorting everything out. But hey, I have JOY now and so I'm okay. :) (I can't stop wearing it!)

That's just what I needed to hear. A very heartfelt thank you :)

a heart felt thank you clh.

still have a rose picture from your blog a long long time ago where you wrote something very similar to this.

Your words are soothing to the soul:)

XO

Did you get your hair cut? It is totally adorable!

meesh: i already like you! and i'm already inspired by you! what did we ever really want from our teachers? to some extent, i wanted them to be true, and open, and kind, and themselves. and i needed them -- i think -- to believe in my best self & work, to hold that for me, no matter how buried or merely budding it was. i'm wagering you'll make the environment, this weekend, that you described above, because that is what's inside you!

thank you andrea. words i so needed to hear. :)

Yet again, advice to ponder.

powerful.

i've been asked to teach many times. that nagging feeling of 'who am i to teach people' and the feeling of 'not knowing what i'm doing' even though i've been creating work i love and exhibiting it around this country for several years, always creeps into my thoughts. preventing me and keeping me afraid to follow through with it. even though i know deep inside it will be fun and i will be good at it.

i am happy to announce i am heading to toronto this thursday morning and teaching my first workshop this weekend! i am nervous and excited. nervous because it's always scary exposing ourselves and sharing our work with others. always wondering if i am good enough? will they like me?

excited because this is a step toward building wings that will carry me to new experiences. allowing me to share what i love with people who want to learn what i know. experiencing the joy someone feels when they master something new. creating an environment where there is a sharing of ideas and inspirations. helping someone else to build wings that will carry them to a new experience.

That is quite a freaky picture! That has got to be the wildest mirror I have ever seen. Pretty good for plucking eyebrows I suppose!