“Take chances, make mistakes, get messy.” -Miss. Frizzle

Do you know what’s horrifying? The amount of opportunities we’ve let slip by on a daily basis. Not asking that girl/boy to the dance. Not studying. Not going to a concert. Not answering the phone. There are endless amounts of things that we watch slip by everyday, some more simple and less destructive than others. Regardless, it’s gone and it’s not coming back. Have you really sat down and thought about all the things that could of happened and how our lives could be different?

Missed opportunities come down to one thing. Fear. We are naturally scared. I know when it comes to trying new things I’m excited, but I’m also hesitant to try it incase anything goes wrong. That shouldn’t stop you though “fear is nothing more than an obstacle that stands in the way of progress” (unknown). Push through it. Because I can guarantee that once you over come it, it will feel like you can conquer anything. I can also guarantee that if you don’t at least try it once, the feeling of regret will overpower that feeling of fear any day.

You can skip to around 1:10 to see them begin their journey.

Fear in my life would be: snakes, clowns, and having regrets. I know, the last one sounds extremely cliche but it’s true. Knowing that I have the opportunity to do something great with my life and I don’t utilize it, is awful. One example of not having regrets would be, when I was 5 I was in big bear with my family. We spent the day sledding, I remember going down the hill, I hit something and I ended up falling and spraining my wrist. A sprain isn’t a life threatening injury, but to a 5 year old I thought I was I was going to die! We were going to stay in Big Bear for a few more days and in those few days, I refused to go sledding. I’m pretty sure I “swore on my life” that I would never go sledding again, I was a very dramatic child. On the last day my family went out one last time to play in the snow and sled. I finally got over my injury and went out with my family. I still remember building snowmen, sitting in my sisters lap as we went speeding down that hill, and having my first ever snowball fight.

All in all that was a great way to end a vacation. I didn’t have a single regret that day. Given the fact that I was 5 and I’m pretty sure that I didn’t even know what regret meant. Regardless, that little story was suppose to give you some insight on not letting your fear of getting hurt, or even rejected, keep you from trying new things.

-ashley