Would you give it all up, if you could get what you want?

I was settled into my chair with the first cup of coffee of the day and the remote firmly planted in my other hand. I have a morning habit of switching back and forth between TV channels hoping to outwit the advertisers when a story on a local channel caught my eye. It was about a local woodworking school and a recent student. He talked about his success as a professional in business and how he's was going to give it all up to work with wood! Stories like these are certainly not unusual but it resonated with me because I'm struggling to find my way in the current "work" environment.

I took the job I have now because, like you, I need money. I told myself "I can do this...work mindlessly for the company. Save my money. Be secure". But as I sat listening to his story of how "he's going to give it all up to work with his hands and do something he loves" I felt the same insistent nagging at the back of my mind.  I'm a creative person and I know it. I've been trying to fit into the normal world but it does nothing for me....spiritually. This gentleman said what all creative people feel...the need to create demands that it be recognized. Knowing that, there's only one thing to do. Confront the fear that's holding me back. You know it as well. The fear of failure, of not having enough funds to finance your ideas, or even the doubt and worries of family and significant others that will try to convince you of the "right thing to do". The interesting thing is that fear is projecting into the future an outcome that most likely won't happen. It (fear) has the uncanny ability to halt us in our tracks. So what is it that separates all the successful, great, and celebrated people in our world from the rest of us? You got it, they overcame their fear.

So it turns out the only thing you truly have to give up is your fear and boldly face each day without worry of tomorrow. In return, you'll gain not only success but satisfaction. The satisfaction of creating, writing, building, or what ever else that would cause you to pause and smile over a "work" well done.