We all have that tendency to overthink things, to worry about the "what if's" and to let those fears dictate our choices. And by doing that, we aren't allowing ourselves to fully grow, to change, and to experience life to it's fullest.
Coming from someone who never was the first person to jump into the pool, never wanted to be first, and never wanted to put myself out there and try new things, high school was a slow awakening. Freshman year, I stuck my foot in the water and joined NJROTC. I was honestly scared and thought about dropping that class the first few days. But, after sticking it out, I'm glad I put my confident pants on. It was the first time I had ever made a firm decision like that for myself, a decision to be different from all of my friends and to try something only I really wanted.
As high school progressed, slowly this spread to other things. I joined the marching band and met some of my best friends, I joined the soccer team and remembered how much I loved it when I was younger and it made me mad I only got to do it during senior year when I finally had the courage to try out for the team.
The biggest new thing I ever tried was running for Homecoming Queen and Miss Aiken High. I probably would have never considered it until I magically ended up military ball queen my sophomore year of high school. It was kind of uncomfortable. I never saw myself as the pretty girly-girl. And I definitely wasn't comfortable portraying myself that way. I just wanted to be invincible and strong, kind of like one of the boys, but not "that" girl. And, through doing that I gained a lot of self-confidence.
I learned that I can be strong and beautiful. I learned that I can make myself whatever I want to and I don't have to care what anyone thinks because I'm me. Coming into senior year of high school, I allowed myself to start thinking that way. And, it paid off, not only in my own self-confidence but in the experiences I gained from it. I would never have hung out with some of the girls I met through the Miss Aiken High Pageant, and I never saw myself running for Homecoming Queen.
After winning Miss Senior and being runner-up for homecoming queen, I honestly saw myself differently. And not just like, "Oh, I can be pretty!" but in a way that I could be super confident in everything I do.
My life would be totally different if I hadn't learned to step outside of own comfort zone and face some of the fears and insecurities I had. I definitely would not be pursuing a music degree, I would never have even considered joining the military, and I probably would not have a full scholarship from Air Force ROTC to study music.
Learning to deal with fears is part of life, but once I learned to ignore that voice in my head screaming "what if, what if, what if..." and listened to the voice in my head saying "you're amazing, you're strong, you can do anything you want to do" and so many more opportunies opened up to me.
Freshman year of high school, fear would have stopped me from finding all of my passions that make me, me and that I continue to pursue in my life. Facing that fear, helped me to not only find my passions, but find ways to make them my career and my life goals.