Address to the Nation: Beyond Fear

Don’t let fear cripple you. Go out there and do things quick, fast and with a purpose.

It’s taken me years, I mean years, of just getting to a point where I honestly do not care what other people think. I do still sometimes catch myself worrying about what someone’s going to think, but you can’t control other people’s reactions. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put out a post and it’s gotten more likes or its gotten more positive feedback than a post I thought was going to do great but didn’t.

So often, we cripple ourselves with the what-ifs. It’s that fear, when false evidence appears real in our heads. The sooner you can embrace fear and you can embrace embarrassment and say I honestly do not care about that, the sooner you’ll find freedom.

I’m telling you right now: Don’t apologise for being yourself. Embrace who you are. You were born that way for a reason. You weren’t born that way to change into something else.

Yes, we want to improve, yes we want to be better, yes people like success, but here’s the thing: anyone who’s done anything has failed a bunch of times in order to get there. It’s inevitable that you’re going to do things that aren’t going to be exactly the right step. There’s going to be times where you’re going to step to the left when you should have stepped right, and you get smashed in the face for it.

All I want to say to you is, don’t apologise for being yourself. There are so many things within you that make you unique, that make you who you are, that make you valuable to not only your family, your friends, but that make you valuable to this world.

Everyone has value, and the more I seek that, the more I embrace my value, the more I understand that me playing the game safe isn’t helping anyone. Me playing this game safe means that some kid doesn’t get to know more about who they are, or some player doesn’t get to be developed the way they should be developed, or some negative coach gets a louder voice than me because I was too afraid to say something.

You’re on this earth for a reason, for a purpose. Do not fear failure: embrace it.

Be you, be true, and don’t apologise for who you are.

 

 

 

 

 

— JFK