Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Many of times people like to play it safe and never go outside of their comfort zone. Which is completely understandable because it takes a lot of guts and faith to do something that you are afraid to do.

I tried to test out this idea of doing something once a day that scares you and putting myself more out there. So far it proved to really help boost my confidence. Even doing something as small as taking a different route home than usual.

One time I decided to do something I pretty much would never think of doing. I had a crush on this guy in my one class. I never had the chance to have a real conversation with him since he sat on the other side of the class. I’ve grown up watching movies that always depict the boy approaching the girl and trying to woo her. But in my reality, that isn’t the way it seems to go. So I knew I had to try putting myself out there and that I’d definitely be going out of my comfort zone.

The one morning after class I saw my crush sitting in one of the lounge areas. I knew it would only take 3 seconds of insane courage and that once I was talking to him it’d be easier. So I took a deep breath, then I approached him. I started a simple conversation with him and we talked for a bit. Then I gave him my number and told him to text me if he wanted to. I told him it was nice talking to him. He said the same and smiled.

The moment I walked away I was in complete and utter shock. But not at how nice he was or that fact that he took my number. But I was beyond proud of myself for doing something I never thought I could do. In that moment it didn’t matter if he ever texted me or not. I was just thrilled that I found the strength to go through with it (my friends were all basically shocked that I did it too).

Now it didn’t end like a movie necessarily because he never texted me but I’ve been alright with that (the first two days I was a little bummed though). But overall, when I look back on the experience, the joy far outweighs the disappointment.

Since I have talked to him I’ve felt so much more confident about who I am. Instead of feeling rejected or upset about the outcome; see that you can still win even if what you won wasn’t what you thought would be the prize. I won this new found confidence I have within myself. It also kind of gave me the closure of, okay he’s not interested, but at least I gave it my best shot. Moving on from him was so much easier because I knew where I stood.

I would much rather have had what happened to me than to still be sitting there wondering if he’d ever like me. You really cannot wait for life to just hand you what you want. You need to act if you ever want to gain anything.

So I encourage you to do that thing that scares you. You may not receive the prize you intended, but I promise you won’t go home empty-handed`.