STRONGER THAN YOU THINK

We all have our breaking points—times when we question how strong we are and if we can go farther. Our questions often give way to doubt or fear, and we soon find them speaking through us: "This is the farthest I can go," "I can’t go any farther," "I think I made a mistake thinking I could pull this off."

Luckily, Scott Stabile’s quote holds some wisdom for us. It goes thus: "My fear whispered to me, ‘I am just trying to protect you.’ I whispered back, ‘I know, but I’m stronger than you think.’"

I had to read the quote again, a bit slower the second time, and I thought, "How many times do we let doubt silence our goals? How many times do we agree with our fear, all in the name of trying to protect ourselves?" "You can’t be a dancer; you’re not flexible enough." Or, "You can’t continue; if you give up now, no one’ll notice."

Our fears convince us that we’ll fail if we try this, or we’ll mess it up if we try that, and we make the mistake of listening to our fears. We look back in retrospect and remember all the times we missed it, all the times we did things wrong, and the voice of our fear gets louder and louder.

Instead, let’s resolve to remember the times we picked ourselves up. Times we surpassed our limits, exceeded our expectations, and did more than we ever thought we could. Times they said we couldn't, but we actually did. Situations we thought we’d never make it out of, but we did, overwhelming challenges we thought we'd never overcome, but we overcame. When we do this, we’ll find that we really are strong—stronger than how our fears make us feel and far stronger than we think we are.

We don’t know how Stabile’s conversation with his fear ends, but, in my head, I can almost see his fear watching in disbelief as he shows that he really is stronger than it thinks.

When next fear comes to have a conversation with you, do well to mention that you’re stronger than it thinks, and because you are, you’ll be going farther than even you think!