“Fear is the gateway between us and the destiny of who we are created to be.” -Justin Stumvoll
Recently I’ve been studying different types of being “scared” and fears. There’s a big difference between meeting someone for the first time and someone jumping out from a corner to scare the life out of you. This isn’t the type of fear I’m talking about.
The one I’m proposing is the kind of fear of standing at the edge of a cliff. It’s the ol’ tale of being a kid and taking the time to climb up to the highpoint to jump into the lake or river below. When you arrive at the scene you see others taking the plunge with a long scream and the joy of “I did it”.
I’ve had discussions with leaders and dreamers that stir up the reasons for these 4 Fears that Kill Your Dreams and found some amazing discoveries. The three most common fears that keep dreams from happening are:
- Not knowing what will happen if it ends up working and being fun. They fear success. Success is new. Most don’t know what to do with success and most will sabotage it before it happens. They feel that unless life is hard and a struggle then it doesn’t have “meaning”.
- Afraid that if they back down off the cliff and walk away they will be haunted with, “What could have been”.
- Then there are those that show up at the lake but won’t climb the hill, won’t jump, and will just sit on the sidelines of life. Most people fear being this type of person. They won’t dream at all. They don’t feel they’ve ever been given permission to dream or find themselves ‘dreamless’.
- Then there’s the number one fear to squash dreams: FEAR OF FAILURE. They are afraid that if they jump they will fail, belly flop, or look like an idiot.
Let me tell you, one of the greatest gifts I can give you is this truth: YOU GET TO CHOOSE. You get to choose how you’d like this life to be regardless of your upbringing, where you were born, how much money you do or don’t have. Life isn’t about being a victim of your past and having it rob your present and future. You can change it all in the blink of an eye. It’s up to you. I’ve seen this happen over and over again. Rarely have I seen money being an ingredient of the dream taking flight. The success of a dream is the reality of you taking ownership of your life, passions, and dreams. There isn’t enough money in the world that can buy that sort of joy. Happiness is dependent upon happenings. Joy is built on a life firmly rooted in truth. Regardless of life’s storms and triumphs you can be secure and content in your identity. This took me years to assemble into my marriage, kids, friends, and others.
My personal fear? Is becoming a part of those sitting in the stands. This is the status quo. I want to be in the game failing, looking like an idiot for trying and learning with each failure. Thomas Edison failed over 9000 times at the light bulb. He didn’t care. He kept moving forward.
The day I realized that my dreams, ideas, and passions cannot be determined by others I became free. It became ignited in my soul that results aren’t up to me but the living, dreaming, and failing that are essential for true living.
If you are not being true to yourself and others, you are doing a disservice to God and to others. Basically, we have become performers for what others will think of us. We become fear-based in living a life not ours. We then end up frustrated as to why things don’t happen. I’ve been there. This anger and frustration became a great road map to reveal my true passions, dreams, and strengths. I now want to help others with these same techniques. I want to help you dream ideas, create products, and tell your story while making great money on the side or for a living.
Five years ago I had an idea to launch www.noahuniversity.com to help others realize their dream life: Making the most money possible while doing what they love most. I totally believe that your dream life is sitting there ready to be taken. You have to be willing to climb and JUMP. I’ve helped others form their dreams, execute a launch, and then splash into success. Then, they climb the hill to launch another, bigger dream.
You have a limited amount of time here on earth. No one knows how much, yet we live as if we have forever. The most impactful folks I’m around have the mentality of:
“What if I fall?”
“Oh, my darling, what if you FLY?”
The time is NOW and the Wait is OVER!
Recent comments
Rich Wright 9 years ago
This is great!! I have always had two fears : Failure and Success. I have never completely quit creating but I have sabotaged myself several times. No more, I have started coloring outside of the lines!
Appreciate you, Noah!
Noah 9 years ago
Rich, excited for you and what is to come!
Ehren 9 years ago
I’ve always had trouble determining what my dream job would be. I love art and animation but I would also love to get into movie making or storytelling. I tend to think that my dream job would be working with the disney imagineers creating the awesome rides and environments and that kind of storytelling. Im sure that any of those would make me happy. Failure and success seem to be my biggest fears.
Noah 9 years ago
Ehren, thanks for the comment! Keep following what ignites your heart. That’s the true measurement.
Jennifer Loveless 9 years ago
Hello Noah. This particular blog really hit home for me. I too am an artist (just starting out) and a mother to an amazing 7 month old baby and wife to an amazing man of God. I have two major fears in my art. One is that I’m not good enough or creative enough. I’m self-taught and ever since I was a child I would only draw what was there in front of me. I was never creative enough to just draw what I had in my thoughts. So even today I just paint what people find online (giving credit to the original artist of course). My second fear kind of coincides in that I’m afraid I will let people down. I’m afraid that they will get their canvas and not get what they are expecting. I just don’t know how to overcome those fears. Thank you for sharing. God bless you!
Noah 9 years ago
Jennifer,
Thanks for the comment and honesty. Congratulations on your baby! Let me tell you, I relate to your fears. The fact that you posted hear and talked is a sign that you have a massive passion for creativity. I would create small experiments that allow you to create “whatever you want” with no expectation from someone else or a client etc. Literally paint your own story and passions. This releaved the pressure for me and allowed me to get out what I was excited about. I couldn’t fail. If the piece wasn’t good I would then create a better one and so on. Creating you own images is so much fun. It feels a little out of the box at first but then gets wings. However, “thinking” about it isn’t “doing” it. I would encourage you again to create your own images by creating small experiments.
The price of inaction is is high. Breakthrough to see the opportunities! Imagine the fun and new images that people will probably love because they are new and original!
And don’t sweat the “letting people down”. People want what’s in your head and how you see the world. I don’t your subject matter but I encourage you to look at the advantage you’ll have creating your won content.
Glad you’re here!
Scott Hall 9 years ago
Hi Noah,
Thanks for this SO needed message. Unfortunately I’m dealing with a childhood issue that’s difficult to overcome and it’s robbed me of my artistic talents throughout the years. I’m now 44 and still deal with this issue in my life and feel that my dreams of ever doing something artistic with my life aren’t going to happen. Fear is something that grips me on a daily basis, sometimes so fierce that I feel like I’m going to collapse. No one really knows I’m feeling such fear because I go through the motions of life. I’ve even prayed over and over for God to take the fear from me, but I guess I’m coming to realize that courage isn’t the absence of fear, but doing whatever it is despite the fear. I know God has given me artistic talent, and I pray that I can be like the 1st 2 servants who used the talents their master gave them! Thanks for encouraging me with your blog. I guess 44 years old isn’t too old for someone’s dreams to come true. “It’s never too late to be what I might have been.”
Noah 9 years ago
Scott, really appreciate the comment. You’re right. There’s no better time than right now to do the right thing. You have an amazing life ahead. Make it count doing what you love!!
Shy Davis 9 years ago
If I could do anything I wanted in life and get paid to do it would it be performing energy healing work, massage therapy and writing. I’m working on all of the above. I’m a Reiki practitioner, in school for massage therapy and have a blog I started last year. I want to be able to do this full time and dream of the day this becomes a reality. I want out of my current job to fulfill my life purpose. A friend shared this blog on their instagram. I needed to read this at this exact moment. Thank you for writing this. I shall be sharing this post.
Noah 9 years ago
Shy, thanks for your comment and sharing! Excited for your dreams to become reality.
Jason 9 years ago
“If you could do anything you wanted in life and get paid to do it, what would it be?”
Interesting timing for this question. I’ve been asking myself this very question from time to time over the last few years. And up until recently, I couldn’t come up with an answer. Then, out of nowhere, the answer came to me while I was dreaming. It happened just a couple of weeks ago, and it was one of the most vivid experiences that I’ve had in quite some time.
Long story short – the dream was about me coming up with a concept for a comic book. And during this dream, near the end, I remember sitting and talking with a good friend from my past, and I literally said “I don’t care that I won’t be making that much money, I get to draw comics for a living!” And I remember the feeling that I had. It was the absolute joy from within of knowing what I wanted to do with my life … of knowing what I was “wired” for. It felt great, and it felt right. As if I was finally going in the right direction, and no longer trying to force myself through life.
When I awoke, I remember thinking “finally, I know what I really want to do.” And immediately after the thought passed I felt it, the sinking feeling in my gut. The heavy weight of “reality,” for lack of a better term, and the good feeling had vanished. Instead I was left with the negative emotion of dread and worry, and thoughts like “no, that’s not really what I want to do anymore,” or “c’mom, I can’t really think that’s what I want to do for a living.” For whatever reason, the creative side of me was back asleep, and the logical side had once again taken over.
I’m currently working through the process of trying to determine which feeling is true, the feeling that I want to draw comics, or the feeling that there’s something else out there. I figure the only way to really know for sure is to start putting pen to paper, and at least give it a shot. Maybe then I will determine what the true nature of my resistance is. Is it one of the fears you list above, is there something else that would fulfill my creative side better? I suppose only time (and action) will tell.
Noah 9 years ago
Jason this is powerful stuff. Super excited to see those fears become breakthroughs to freedom.
Caite 9 years ago
Thanks Noah for posting this! Your words are so encouraging. I’m an artist too and my dream is to make art for Disney as you do. I often feel so lost because I feel like God gave me this talent and life and I’m not using it to it’s fullest. Currently I’m an art teacher but making art for Disney and inspiring others as I have been inspired is what I truly want to do. I have no idea how to do this so I just keep working in my art. Reading your posts encourages me and gives me hope. Thanks Noah, you’re truly an inspiration.
Noah 9 years ago
Caite, thanks for the comment and being here. Didn’t know if you knew about my mentorship that I host online for creatives http://www.noahuniversity.com it is my Playbook of 30 years experience I share with others to help them launch their dreams. Let me know if you have any questions. Love your passions and that you teach and impact others. Well done.
Bridget 9 years ago
I’ve been sitting on the sideline, fearful of trying because I doubted myself and fearful of possible success when I was seeing results, only to sabotage myself with more self doubt. I wasn’t sure why I was fearful of success, but thanks to this post I now know why!
With the dots finally connecting I’m ready to start climbing that hill.
I know my art skills are a ways off from the market, but being self-taught, I can’t help but wonder how will I know when my artwork is ready? With so many professionals & styles out there, (not to mention there is always something new to learn) I’ll admit, it is intimidating. Noah, how do you know when it is time to jump?
Noah 9 years ago
Bridget, in always in a state of jumping. I’m learning all the time and constantly working to stretch myself technique wise and knowledge wise. The art is in constant refinement too. As soon as you take the leap other steps reveal themselves. The key is to start the journey and keep moving forward. Don’t know if you’ve heard about http://www.noahuniversity.com/live let me know your thoughts. Glad you’re here!
Lindsay 9 years ago
If I could get paid to do what I love, it’d be to help couples wedding dreams come true! I recently helped out a friends wedding and saw all my passions and gifts come perfectly into play and it feels so good to finally know what I want to do with my life! I have no idea how i’ll get my foot in the door or what part of the wedding industry but first ive got conquer my husband’s green card process so we can move from Sweden to CA where i’m from to follow my dreams! Also, my husband & I would love to own a historic home that can be a wedding venue and b&b, why not dream big right?! Thanks for this encouraging blog, Noah!
Noah 9 years ago
Lindsay your dream sounds so exciting! Keep being a blessing to those around you with the resources in front of you. Excited to see how you took your friends weeding and made it an epic memory.
Jodie McGuire 9 years ago
I take photos of toys and miniatures. I have many characters that I speak through. I would love to finish the children’s book I wrote, add my photos and get it published. I am a junior high teacher and would continue on there. Love those kids so much. Love their confusion and our struggles to untangle them!
Noah 9 years ago
Jodie, you are a gift to these kids. Glad to see that you’re nurturing the kid within you with your creative outlets. Proud of all you’re doing for others. Shine bright and create what makes you ignite.
Erica 9 years ago
Today I was at Downtown Disney Orlando and headed straight for the art gallery as I usually do. I love being surrounded by all that creativity. I kept picking out some of my favorites and your name, Noah, was on them! I said, tonight I am going to research you on the computer. I am sooo happy to find you and what an inspiration you are to me already! I have tears in my eyes reading everything you and others have posted because I can relate. My dream is to use the talents God has blessed me with, make a living from it and God be glorified. This has been my prayer and I am standing on His promise that He is going to do exceedingly, abundantly above all I can think or imagine! My dream has always been to do something creative for Disney but I will go where God leads. I have put my talents aside for too long because of fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure and success. But not anymore. I recently quit my “safe job”and I am taking my steps of faith into the unknown. I do portraits but I am trying to learn other things that interest me. I don’t want to waste another minute on a job that is not me. I want to use the talents God has blessed me with and I know His word says if I delight myself in Him, He will give me the desires of my heart! Thank you for using your God given talents and please keep me in your prayers as I seek mine. 🙂 God Bless!
Noah 9 years ago
Erica, so glad you’re here! Love the story and risks you’re taking to truly being you. Excited for what is to come! Keep the comments coming.