Say "YES"

How many times have you wanted to do something and you just didn't because you were scared? How did you feel afterward? Did you dwell on the what ifs and try to convince yourself that staying out of the game was probably the best idea for you?  Did you make excuse after excuse, but secretly inside cried out that you wish you had done it?  Getting over fear itself is probably the biggest hurdle to success in any area of your life. Once you can look it in the face, and bulldoze it down, the places that you can go are limitless.

Choosing success over fear can also be a fun experience. Recently I had the chance to participate in a Ruckus Run where I had to run 4 miles, go through mud (like 4 foot deep mud), and do military style obstacles. I hadn't run in a while prior to running Ruckus, but I kept my commitment and went anyway. It was hard. My mind was winning over the physical aspects in many cases, but I continued to push on.

One of the most challenging parts, which I didn't even consider this to be a challenge initially, was the weight of the mud as it hung off of your clothes. It added so much weight to the run; or the feel of mud squishing around in your shoes after only the first mile, knowing that you had 3 more to go. Or your pants falling down because you were dumb and didn't wear pants with a drawstring...all of these could have made me go, "I quit..this is ridiculous", but it didn't. 

This mud run was definitely out of my normal comfort zone, as you can see in my face in the above picture. It was something that I had never experienced, but that I always wanted to do (and never did due to my fear of hurting myself, or not finishing..dumb fears really).  Well on this day I ran, I JUMPED into the mud, went over every obstacle with more ease than expected and had a great time with two of my girlfriends.  It was truly a blast, and I'd do another one in a heart beat! Did I finish? Yes! Did I get the dirtiest I have EVER been? Hell Yeah! Did I get hurt? YES! But you know what...it was so worth it. Seriously. I would rather have done this and come out with a bit of pain than have not done it and wondered "what if".

The point is, I never would have experienced this if I would have continued to let my fear get in the way of trying something new. Sometimes you just need to make yourself say, "Yes" to things. I'm not saying if someone asks you to go jump of a bridge that you should be like, "Aw heck ya! I gotta try this!"...I'd use caution with that decision, especially if it's shallow water...but if someone asks you to try a new recipe, a new workout, visit a new place, or do something that you have never done and always wanted to then you should say, "Yes". 

 In the end, it's totally worth it.

**Sorry for the proofs..but you get the idea :)