Tag: Fear

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Lessons We Can Learn From Our Children

December 12, 2011 jcladyluv

It’s easy for us as parents to get annoyed with children who just keep pestering you until they get their way, and to get frustrated with their complete disregard for danger or consequences. Sometimes what can also get on our nerves is when children go from one activity to the next as if it is their money that they are wasting on that particular activity. However, we as parents can learn a lot from our children and their sometimes annoying behavior.

Children have such persistence and resilience within them. Their fearlessness allows them to try a multitude of things without the thought of failure. What we see as their indecisiveness and constant change of activities should be acknowledged as them trying to find what interests they are better suited for so that they can master what they are truly good at. Children are really good teachers sometimes and perhaps we should take a few pages from their book.

If we didn’t think so much about the failures that we might encounter, we may be more inclined to seek out more adventures and endeavors. If we were as persistent as our children to get what it is that we want out of life, perhaps we might learn to always go after what it is that we want and to never settle for less then what we deserve.

Just imagine what we could do in this world if we followed the words that we often tell our children; to always go after what you want and never let anything get in your way; to figure out what your purpose is and then be the best that you can be at it; and to never be so afraid to fail that you never try to begin with. Until tomorrow…What lessons could you learn from your children?

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

NaNoWriMo Day 12: Proving something to myself

November 12, 2011 jcladyluv

NaNoWriMo is teaching me a lot about myself and my writing this year. For one, this novel is showing me that I should not be afraid to branch out into different genres or styles of writing just because it’s something I’ve never done. I wouldn’t have known that I could be good at writing a mystery if I had never made the attempt. The second thing it has taught me is that I, the person who is not a morning person at all, writes better in the morning. Not only that but that I can actually, despite the longing to hit the snooze button on my alarm clock, have the willpower and enough passion for my writing that it makes me drag myself out of the bed anyway at five in the morning. The third thing that NaNoWriMo has helped me prove to myself is that I can actually blog everyday. The closest I had gotten to doing it before was three days a week. That was all I strived for because I had convinced myself that that was as close to daily blogging that I was ever going to get. I never even tried it before until doing this for NaNoWriMo and I am discovering that I should’ve been doing this a long time ago. Today was a tough day for writing. I had some things happen that were just emotionally draining. I didn’t feel like writing when I got home and my daughter was ready for Game/Pizza night. However, this novel is important to me and being able to say I finished what I started and set out to do is extremely important to me so I told my daughter to give me an hour to write and that we would start after. I sat down and, though the words were not coming easy, I finished my minimum word count for the day and I felt good that I pushed myself to just sit down and write. Mackenzie had some things that she wanted to get off her chest anyway and she didn’t feel that it could wait. Well I think I’m gonna call it a night and pray for tomorrow to be better. Until tomorrow…What has this year’s NaNoWriMo inspired you to prove to yourself?

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

What Would You Do If You Were Not Afraid?

October 11, 2011 jcladyluv

“Whatever you fear most has no power—it is your fear that has the power.

~Oprah Winfrey

I was watching the interview that Oprah did with facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg the other night and I managed to get some really inspirational things from it, but that’s no surprise considering it is Oprah. I think that the most insightful thing that I got from it was when Oprah talked about the fear she had at starting her own cable network. She said that one of the ways that she was able to move past that fear was to make a list of all of the things that she would do if she were not afraid to do them. I immediately jotted down a few notes and started pondering what my list would look like.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I am the queen of list making so of course I couldn’t just sit and ponder what would be on my list, I had to actually make my list. The funny thing was that I put quite a few things on that list that I didn’t even realize that I actually had a yearning to do. There were things that I am so afraid of doing that I had somehow convinced myself that I didn’t want to do those things simply out of fear. In writing them down and being completely honest with myself I realized that I do want to do those things, I’m just scared to. But what kind of existence can I possibly have always being afraid to do what it is I really want to do?

We are all afraid of something. Fear is just a part of life. We are going to be afraid of something, and it is even going to trip us up for a while, but how long do you let that fear control the destination of your journey? I know I can’t kick that habit of fear overnight, hell probably not even in a month or so, but I know it’s not helping me meet my goals. I think that I am going to put my list up on my bulletin board in an effort to remind me of all of the things that I am missing out on by being afraid to do them, or at the very least try.

So since I am a little bit afraid to share any part of this list with the rest of the world for fear of becoming vulnerable I am in fact going to share a part of that list:

Open my own bookstore
Go to culinary arts school and pursue opening my own restaurant.
Write a soap opera and present it for production.
Write a stage play and get it produced.
Hound a national magazine or newspaper until they hire me to write for them.
Start my own internet talk/radio show.
Audition for the X-factor.
Start doing motivational speaking to kids and teens in elementary and high schools about the dangers of bullying.

Okay so that was only a small part of my list but I don’t want to go sharing everything. So I think that everyone should go make their own list of what they would do if they were not afraid. If you don’t mind sharing maybe you could leave a comment and share one of those things that you would do. If it’s out there, then there’s no reason to be afraid anymore, right? Even if you don’t share make the list anyway, you just might find it liberating. Until next time…Do what it is you are most afraid of!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

Lessons In Failure

January 26, 2011February 8, 2011 jcladyluv

“Some failure in life is inevitable; it is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you fail by default.”

~ J.K. Rowling

The fear of failure is paralyzing. It is much like a parasite that sucks all of the hope, determination, and courage out of you; chipping away at your will to succeed little by little, day by day, obstacle by obstacle. But much like any debilitating illness that takes a hold of your body, there is a recovery process. It may take longer than you think to get there but the key is wanting it bad enough and keeping your eye on the light at the end of the tunnel.

It is safe to say that we are all going to fail at some point in our lives. It is both what we do with, and how we chose to perceive that failure that determines whether it will cripple us or make us stronger. Where some people get off track is in perceiving any moment of failure as anything but a much needed step forward in our road to success. If we never fail it means we have never taken any risk and that we have always played things safe. But playing it safe isn’t really living.

We need failure. Yes it causes us to doubt ourselves, to lose sight of our purpose, even to think about giving up altogether. But it also brings about a realization. It humbles us while strengthening us. It breaks us down and then builds us back up. It renews our fight and determination to achieve the things that we really want out of life. Without our failures we might never truly appreciate or grasps the depths of our successes. If you are afraid to fail then you are essentially afraid to live because in living your life to its fullest potential, failure is inevitable.

For a large part of my life I have let the fear of failure immobilize me. Always trying to remain cautious; using the excuse of maintaining a routine as a reason to ward off change, all the while staying stuck in the same place because of it. From here on out I am not going to be so afraid to fail that I never even try to succeed. Instead I plan to embrace my failures, every single one of them, because they all mean something. Whether it is something good or something bad, it is a lesson nonetheless. Our failures show us what we did wrong so that we can finally get it right. If anyone reading this is struggling with this same fear, let go of it right now. It is that fear of failure that is killing your opportunity for success. Take a risk today, and if you fail, take another one tomorrow. What else do have to lose? Think about what you stand to gain.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/