Its been an interesting week to say the least. Recently, one of my colleagues refused to accept the change that was imminent in his life. He was all set to graduate with his Master’s degree in hand. He needed only to make some simple revisions to his thesis and have his supervisor sign off on it before she flew out of the country for the next month. And yet, thus far, he has refused to make the changes. He has cited many reasons, but what I saw in his eyes was fear. Fear of the next step, of the change, of having to grow. Sometimes we think we’re ready for something, right up until the very moment it happens, and then we realize how very unprepared we are. When I was travelling, I went canyoning and at one point, we got to the top of a 50 foot waterfall. We were given the option to hike down the side of it, or jump off the cliff into the pool below. I was all ready to make the jump, until I got to the edge. Then fear gripped me by the arm and held me back. But sometimes you just have to jump, put your faith in yourself and hope for the best. I jumped that day, and it was one of the most exhilarating feelings of my life. Though I know it pales in comparison, I hope my colleague can make the jump he needs to make in his life.
Readers, have you struggled to take action on something that will change your life? Did fear hold you back? How did you overcome that? Please leave a comment, I would love to hear your stories.
One of last week’s posts, What Do You Need in Your Cage?, was featured in a number of blog carnivals this week, including:
- Financial Carnival for Young Adults, hosted by 20′s Finances
- Yakezie Carnival, hosted by Faithful with a Few
- Top Personal Finance Posts of the Week, hosted by Personal Finance Whiz
- Carnival of Money Pros, hosted by My Journey to Millions
- Are cars destroying our society? I don’t know if they’re the only culprit, but 20′s Finances wrote a terrific article about the topic that I highly recommend.
- Cait @ Blonde on a Budget is taking on a bold new adventure – or at least, trying to. She wants to go to the Bold Academy, but she needs help first. She even wrote an impassioned letter to her friends and family that is worth a read. Best of luck Cait!
- Everyone’s talking about weddings these days, and Young and Thrifty wrote this week about how to tactfully ask for money instead of wedding gifts.
- If you got stuck in a natural disaster, would you be prepared? Sadly, most of us aren’t, but if you’re interested in knowing what you might need to be prepared, you’ll want to read up on Prairie Eco-Thrifter.
- Its still a tough job market out there, Sustainable Personal Finance reminds us of some of the little things we can do to help improve our chances, particularly geared at new graduates.
- Thirty Six Months reminds us that balance is important. Saving money is essential to life, but we also earn money so we can spend it. Don’t forget to set aside a fun fund!
- And last but not least, want to win an iPad? Life and My Finances is giving one away. The contest ends April 30th, so head over now and enter!
Happy Weekend Everyone!
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JUST DO. Don’t worry about doing your best. JUST DO. We paralyze ourselves with fear of failure. If we can simply follow the principle of JUST DO, we would try new things and never be afraid to do so.
Well said James! Accepting that it’s ok to fail as long as you learn from it goes a long way towards success.
Boy did I ever struggle to take action years ago – on getting married! I was very young and unsure about the choice that I was making, if I’d be ready, would I be a good dad, etc. Now 10 years later, I can say it was the best choice ever! I finally got over the fear by realizing that this was probably the best person I’d ever meet and be with. Once you take a step back and realize how good you’ve got it, everything becomes more clear!
Thanks for sharing MMD! Marriage is one of the biggest life decisions we make, so its important to have that realization before jumping in into it! But as Billy Crystal says in When Harry Met Sally, “when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible!”
I agree, sometimes you just have to make the leap. I’m almost done with my MBA, and I’m ready for it!
Congratulations Michelle, that’s a great accomplishment and something to be proud of!
For years, I’ve struggled with my fear of water that’s why I’ve never learned how to swim. When I was younger, I was more willing to take the risk and I would jump into the water and hope for the best. I always ended up being rescued.
As I grew older, I learned to avoid similar situations and the fear stayed with me.
That’s actually one of the things in my list of things to do before I die.
Learn how to overcome my fear and finally be able to have fun in the water.
Theresa, I sympathize completely. I’m not much of a water person either. You’re right that you can’t run from challenges, and I wish you the best of luck in overcoming this one!
I have been afraid of change in the past and have missed out on some things because of it. I definitely have learned my lesson. I now take leaps of faith so to speak and just try and see what happens. So far I haven’t been burned and things have actually worked out really well. Change is inevitable, we just need to adjust.
Thanks a bunch for including my article on emergency prep. I really appreciate it.
That’s the very definition of risk! Thanks for your comment Miss T!
I can understand your friends hesitation. A lot of my friends seem stuck in the same situation – more school after more school. People are afraid to enter the real world these days.
Personally, I can be just as indecisive, although I try not to let that stop progress! Thanks for sharing.
Especially with today’s economy making it tough for young people to get jobs, it can be really easy to stay in school. By the way, for those wondering, my colleague did hand in his finalized, edited manuscript. It took him a few days, but he made the jump.