TOW: The Fear of Being Wrong

You know, sometimes I think about all the amazing things people have done in their lives, and I think "Wow, I wonder how they got there." 

Sometimes I look at things that I have done in my life, and I wonder how 'I' did them. 

I would like to say it's because I was courageous, or because I was really smart, or because I was paying attention to what matters in life, but most of the time it wasn't.  I think I'm one of those unfortunate saps that manage to do everything good in their life by not paying attention to it.  =/

All that aside, there's something to be said for being an adult now, and having to try at things that used to come naturually.  I used to be surrounded by all the things I wanted, all the time.  It used to be easy to get what I want.

Now, I'm responsible for every choice in my life.  I don't really have anyone to blame it on.  If I lived at home, I would blame lost articles on my family.  I would blame my incompetence on other people I work with.  I'm always so afraid of being wrong, I'd rather not doing anything at all than actually face my fears.

However, that's just not possible if you're going to be authentic. 

Being afraid of being wrong is the most toxic decision you can make for yourself.  I can promise you that every wrong decision I've ever made that I've really, truly regretted has been because I was afraid of being wrong, or looking like I made a mistake in someone else's eyes.  And every time, the mistake I made was not expressing myself, not being who I really was, and worrying about other people's opinions instead of focusing on what I needed to accomplish to be happy and satisfied.

One of the beautiful things about running my own business is that it's incredibly freeing.  I am forced every day to accept good enough, less than what I desired, which is nearly an impossible feat for an OCD person like me.  I accept 'not perfect' every day.  (If I don't, I will stay up until 3am in the morning, and I'll do an even worse job than if I just left it.)  At some level, I have to accept I can't make something better.  I am starting to understand where I need to step back and let everything be alright in the world with me. 

There's also a point you reach in your life where you realize that 'not perfect' is better than 'non-existant.'  You really only have two choices.  Letting the fear of being wrong, of appearing stupid, of making mistakes is the kind of thing that will make you less of a person.  You deserve to make mistakes, so you can learn something while you're still alive.

Average people try to avoid mistakes.  Great people move past them.