I’m a planner, a practical pragmatist. And I’m a dreamer, a romantic heart and soul that revels in the flight of fancy. I’m lodged somewhere firmly between my world as it is, and my world as I see it in my mind’s eye. And here’s the real kicker … I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that my world is anything I want it to be, just waiting. Not insistent, or clamoring, but simply there, waiting for me to decide that it is mine to wander into and claim.

Knowing this, it seems like shucking the husk would be easy. Yes, well, not when the realist, the planner, decides to insert her bossy self and contradict the surety of my brass ring dream. Somehow that part of me does not allow the process to continue. In fact, when the tingle starts, and teasingly promises to launch me beyond my current self to the place I envision, I dig in my heels and refuse to budge.

What is that all about?

Why, when a dream seems to be coming true, does my lizard brain decide now is the time to throw up doubts, anxieties and why nots? Is it the work I am afraid of? The possible sting of failure if I reach and miss? Do I not feel worthy of attaining my goals and dreams, or somehow believe I haven’t yet paid my dues? What is it about the realist in me that insists that this must be so damn hard?

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
Anais Nin

Today, my friends…that day is today.

Carol is the founder of 10littlerules.com and the author of the first book in the series, 10 Little Rules for a Blissy Life. This post was originally published in her previous book Beginning to Breathe.