B is for Be Brave and Begin!

Yesterday’s post was on the theme of Adventure. Until this evening, I had no final decision on what my ‘B’ post would be about. I had thought about ‘Blogging’ or ‘Beginnings’. Earlier, I tweeted to some fellow ‘AtoZ’ers that I had no idea what I would be writing about. An immediate reply from my Twitter friend @cagssoc simply said ‘be brave’. So, with apologies to another friend, @David_Ferrie, who suggested ‘belonging’, my theme today is a mash-up of ‘Beginnings’ and ‘Be Brave’.

The turn of a year marks a new beginning for many – new resolutions, new plans, new dreams. Like many people, I set out some things I wanted to accomplish. You can read about them here. Surprisingly enough, I have made progress on most of them. At least they have all begun.

I could equally tell you many dreams and aspirations I had which never made it out of the starting blocks. I think most people have their own stories along that particular line. But what is it that holds people back from achieving their dreams? Sure, financial wherewithal can often be a big inhibitor. But, at least in my case, there is something even more fundamental than that. If I am completely honest with you and with myself, I will openly admit to enormous self-doubt and lack of confidence. I know I am far from alone in feeling that weight of that burden when it comes to moving forward in life.

Being brave in the face of these doubts is not something that comes naturally or easily to me. I have never possessed any great belief in my own abilities. Yet, in many ways I have achieved so much, particularly in the past ten years. In many cases it has involved stepping way outside my comfort zone to start something new. For example, overcoming my lack of formal musical training to direct choirs; shaking off my professional self-doubt to achieve a management-level career (when many believed I would not); convincing myself that I perhaps do have a creative side in the form of photography.

Perhaps the best example I can give is the very act I am engaged in right now – blogging! I always enjoyed ‘words’ but usually restricted it to writing parodies and limericks to poke harmless fun at friends or family members at special occasions - a safe audience in many ways. Then along came Twitter and through it I learned about blogging and met many exceptional bloggers. I was inspired by them – to the extent that I decided to be brave, step outside my comfort zone and begin a bit of blogging myself. Overall, while it has been slow progress, I have thoroughly enjoyed it and I feel it is something I was meant to do.

So, is there something you feel inspired to do? Are there dreams and aspirations you want to fulfill? Are you a little nervous (or a lot nervous) about taking that vital first step? Yes – I’m that person too and the best advice I can give you is Be Brave and Begin.

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* The accompanying photo above (which I call 'Bangers and Mash' - taken in Cafe Kylemore on O'Connell Street, Dublin) is a great example of stepping outside my comfort zone. During last year I developed a great love of street photography. I try to remain unobtrusive but occasionally someone cops what you are doing. I believe the lady in this shot suspected something, but the scene was too good not to shoot it. This is definitely not comfort-zone stuff and requires a bit of bravery but it's great fun - and no one has accosted me yet!!