Moths.
Moths and thunderstorms.
If you ask me what my greatest fear in life is, you might laugh knowing that on any average summer evening, I have a good chance of being face to face with the two things that strike terror into the absolute deepest parts of my soul… moths and thunderstorms.
As funny as it sounds, most people come face to face with their fears much more often than me and my bug zapper on a warm July night.
The greatest fear for most people is failure. It can be so overwhelmingly present that it becomes the absolute limiting factor in an otherwise incredibly ambitious person's story. It can creep into every small decision and clip your wings before you ever get the chance to fly. It's a poison you choose to drink, thinking that it is the safe option.
That’s how my story started.
When I was a young starry-eyed former debutante, I began to realize I wanted my story to be different from so many whose future was curtailed by the fear of falling short. Right then, I made a promise to myself to never let that anxiety keep me from going after something I wanted. After all, Roosevelt said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”
So I did it. I took ALL THE RISKS! I moved to California. I opened a successful bakery and had celebrity clients. I auditioned for hundreds of acting gigs and actually happened to land a few big projects! I got on stage at the Bluebird in Nashville and played the music I wrote in front of people I had admired my entire life.
I ran the competitive road races and got absolutely annihilated. I bought a sailboat and tried to solo sail it, only to completely lose my way and have to be rescued. I couldn't afford the guitar I wanted, so I learned to build my own and destroyed the electronics so many times before I got it right that I would have saved money buying the original!
When I had the opportunity to interview for a large position as the VP of Domestic Sales at a 200 million dollar upholstery import company, I took a deep breath and stepped right through the fear into my future in upper management.
Fast forward quite a few years, and now I’m here. I sit on the Board of Directors for a company that shares the same core values as myself, and I love every moment that I get to build the future of Better Path homes with people that are like family to me.
Sometimes, I still feel that uncertainty and fear start to creep in when I have a tough call to make. When the team is leaning on me to make a decision that will impact the lives of everyone here at Better Path. But I have been on both sides of failure, and I have learned that nothing in the world is scarier than the feeling of regret when you don’t follow your instincts, calculate the risks, and take those chances.
Except moths.
Moths and thunderstorms.