How to Not Let Fear Rule Your Life

I think we can all agree we are living in uncertain times. There is a lot of fear in the world today and it’s really easy to give in to it. I know for me it’s a constant struggle. Do I stay in my comfort zone where I know what to expect or do I do the thing that scares me? I have to make a choice every day.

I’ll be honest, I’m not always brave. Most of the time I cling to that comfort zone. However, I always learn something when I choose the scary thing and I want to share with you five scary (at least for me) things I did for the first time to not let fear rule my life.

Became a Full-Time Freelancer

I did a lot of thinking in 2020 about what I wanted from my life. A flexible schedule and wardrobe were at the top of that list. I also wanted to live closer to my family. You can read more about my story here.

So I decided I needed to leave my good corporate in-office graphic design job and become a freelancer. Scary, right?

Right.

In the summer of 2021, I gave my two-week notice at my job and I started freelancing full-time.

Guess what? I was not successful.

At least not in the “I can pay all my bills and afford food” kind of way…

However, it was a step in the right direction of how I wanted my life to go.

I am back at a regular 9 to 5 job but I learned a few things from my failure. Like what worked and what didn’t work for me.

I loved that I controlled my schedule. I loved that I could help my parents when they needed it because I had the time and I’m close enough to do it. I loved the variety of my work and that I got to be creative.

So just because it didn’t work in that season doesn’t mean I should never try it again.

DIY Haircut

The second thing I did was cut my hair. Before I go on, let me just say I am not telling you to cut your hair. This was my decision. I have long, thin, straight hair and I didn’t think it would be complicated to just do a trim.

I’m not a professional but that was kind of the point. I wanted to see if I could learn how to do it. I like to figure things out.

It was scary because I didn’t know how it would turn out. Would people notice I had cut it myself? Would it look horrible?

I watched several YouTube tutorials on how to do it, borrowed my mom’s barber shears (she’s been cutting my dad’s hair for years), and I just did it one afternoon.

Here is what I learned.

No one noticed and it didn’t look terrible.

Was it the best haircut I’ve ever had? No. Was it the worst? No. Will I do it again? Probably.

Laid Flooring

My parents have been adding on or making improvements to their house for as long as I can remember. They are both handy and do most of the work themselves.

Last Fall, my mom decided she wanted to finally finish the floors in their living room. They added the room to the house years ago but it just had plywood for flooring. She decided she wanted vinyl plank flooring. So, one weekend we went and bought what we needed.

I had no experience laying flooring. My parents had never laid this kind of flooring either. So I watched a lot of DIY tutorials on the subject and we started working on it over Labor Day weekend.

My sister and I ended up laying the flooring in the living room, pantry, kitchen, dining room, and in the hallway. It took us about a week since we couldn’t work on it every day. I also painted the kitchen walls in the middle of it since everything was out of the kitchen anyways.

I learned that it wasn’t that hard, just labor and time intensive. Also, it took a lot of figuring to make sure we used the material we had and didn’t waste it.

Some advice about laying flooring: Make sure you have knee pads BEFORE you begin. Your knees will thank you.

Refurbished Kitchen Cabinets and Countertops

A couple of weeks after we finished the flooring and after we almost had the kitchen put back together, my mom scored some free kitchen cabinets and countertops. They were being ripped out of a business that was remodeling and they were just going to throw them away. So we brought them home.

The cabinets were in rough shape and the countertops had sink holes cut out of them. We had to figure out where the cabinets could fit in the space the kitchen allowed and modify them. We cleaned them up and painted them. We had to cut one of the cabinets in half and add new sides to each piece. We had to move the drawer placement on the sink cabinet.

It took a while, but we finally got them in place, leveled, and screwed to the wall. Then came the countertops.

We had two different kinds of used countertops so we had to measure everything to make sure we had enough of one kind. We didn’t. So we decided to use both.

None of us had cut countertops at 45-degree angles before and we had to do it for both corners of the kitchen. So I watched several tutorials and just went for it. My mom and I cut them one afternoon.

Was it scary? Uh, yeah. We had a limited amount of free material so we didn’t have the option to mess up big.

Were the cuts perfect? No. Do they work? Yes. Again, I’m not a professional.

The point is my mom now has navy blue cabinets with gold-speckled countertops in her yellow kitchen. They were free and she is happy with them. Are they flawless? No. Only we know where the flaws are though.

Started this Blog

I love blogs. I read them all the time. When people share their stories, I always get something out of it. So even though starting a blog is scary because I’m learning as I go, I’m doing it anyways. It may fail. It may be a huge hit. It’s unknown. But either way, I hope you get something out of it.

Do the Thing

So why am I sharing these random things with you? Because I want you to see that if I can do it, YOU can do it. It is ok to do something for the first time. There was a first time for all the professionals and experts out there.

Whatever your scary thing is today, DO IT!

Be brave. Don’t let fear rule your life.

Because even if it doesn’t turn out how you planned, you CAN do the thing you are scared of.

Gem of the Week:

My gem this week is Amika’s The Wizard Detangling Primer. You will not generally hear me talking about beauty products on this blog. Not that there is anything wrong with those products, just that I generally don’t use them. But this detangler I use and I like how it works. I also really like how it smells. I usually spray it on my wet hair after I shower and my brush runs through like butter.