Don't Let A Lack Of Talent Hold You Back

While on twitter with the other night, the subject came up of opportunities, and the ones we let slip by.

Doors that were held open for us, but we were too scared to go through. We felt we just weren't enough.

We give ourselves all sorts of reasons for not rushing in through that door open just a crack. The door that needs just a push from us to open. Maybe we don't think the invitation to enter was extended to us, maybe we think we don't belong on that other side. Maybe we feel the people on the other side of that door deserve to be there, but we don't.

Maybe there's no way that itty-bitty us should be among the company of the mighty and able that go through that door. The ones with the talent.

We talk ourselves out of it. We don't even try to rush in before it slams shut. Our legs may take a step or two forward, propelled by the dreams we have for ourselves -- but then we let our thoughts take over--and our feet stop sharp.

In between the two conversations I was having with the others online at the time, it occurred to me -- how can we tell our children to pursue their dreams -- while we don't, our own?

We tell our children Go for it! You can do it! Believe in Yourself!, but what is our self-talk?

What happens when our children ask us, Mama? What did you wanna be? And did you get to be it?

What do we say then? What are our children watching in us now? Do they see us working hard to get up to that five mile run, because we've always wanted to be a runner, but aren't one -- yet. Do they see us entering our short stories in  the writing competition we just read about -- because we have always wanted to reach others with our words?  Are they witness to us registering for the local Digital Photography 101 class -- because learning how to use a camera is something we have always wanted to do?

Do you see this lady in the picture above in the shimmyshimmy turquoise selling herself short? No. She BELIEVES she is going to take home the prize. She went in through that door marked Contestants.

Because she is living her life like it matters.  She knows in this journey, you get one shot -- so she's chasing it with all she's got. And her children are in the audience, grinning wildly, shouting, "Go, mama, go!"