Dear Universe
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” ~Paulo Coelho
Dear Universe,
I have a nephew and not a day goes by where I don’t find myself in awe of him.
He constantly amaze me—the new things he learns, how he perceives the world, and the questions he asks. So many times I find that in the process of teaching him, he is the one teaching me.
I thought of this a couple of weeks ago as I witnessed my fearless two-year-old niece.
We were at his mother’s friends’ farewell party when the realization fully set in. The party was at a hotel. That day was particularly busy as people come & go, other kids tirelessly run around as well as families just popping in for some afternoon fun.
My nephew walked right in and took right off. He flew into the sea of strangers without a care or worry in the world.
I was telling him things like, “Wait,” “Slow down,” “Be careful,” and “Don’t go so fast,” but he couldn’t hear me. Even my sister.
While my mind was filled with worries, his mind was filled with possibilities. Later, loud music played. As the crocodile shimmied onto the floor, most of the kids backed off to give him space, and to give themselves space.
Not my nephew.
He launched right at them. Literally. Hee threw his entire body into the belly of a stranger and gave him a huge heave ho.
He did this over and over again in between dance moves until he finally saw that ‘Inside Out’ was playing bedroom’s tv and decided to go after that.
No fear. No worry. Just pure fun—the pure zest of going for it.
I hope this fearlessness never goes away. Well, let me rephrase that. I hope fear shows up in the moments when it can protect him from possible dangers. But I hope that when it comes to living life fully, going after what he wants, he stays just as he is now: a mix of confident, carefree, joyful, innocent and fun-loving—all exuding from him being no matter the circumstances.
I say this because as adults it is so damn hard to live fearlessly. We can be questioners, worriers, and our own worst naysayers. We can work so hard to reach for a goal only to stop ourselves right before the finish line.
We let our fears take over when we should be taking over our fears. As adults, we tell ourselves all the things that can go wrong, when as kids we truly believed nothing could ever go wrong.
Yes, time has taught us that’s not true. Things go wrong all the time; in fact, sometimes we need them to.
But when we were kids and felt like everything was rigged in our favor, it freed us from the very thoughts and fears that, as adults, swipe at us no matter how hard we try to dodge them.
So what if we approached our dreams with the childlike belief that we were destined for the happy ending? What if, instead of asking, “What can go wrong?” we say, “It’s going to be great.” And what if instead of saying, “That’s probably not for me,”or “I shouldn’t even bother,” or “This relationship will never work,” we simply say “I’m going for it.”
What would the harm be in just believing in ourselves—in our chance—for a change? That’s what I hope happens the next time I see my dream dancing right in front of me. I hope I’ll look at it head on and dive right in. I hope that right before I take the leap, my fears quiet down, and my childlike faith rises up, roaring and I say:
“I’m going for it.”
No ifs, ands or buts—just pure excitement as I lunge towards an unknown future.
With Gratitude,
B
