“I don’t have the money.”

“I could never give up cheese.”

“I’m way too busy.”

“I’m not strong/skinny/flexible enough.”

Do these sound familiar? Probably. That’s either because you’ve said them yourself, or because other people have said them to you.

The thing is that no matter what somebody tells you—it is never that they “can’t,” it’s that they won’t.

All those people you look up to? All the people you’re jealous of?

They are people just like you.

They have the same insecurities and hopes and desires and losses and loves and judgments.

I post things that are inspiring because they come from things I have learned. We can all do the exact same thing. But we can’t learn anything unless we experience. We have to be willing to experience all of the bad in order to receive all of the good.

While it’s true that I have a lot of things you don’t have, you also have a lot of things that I don’t.

What are your gifts? What do you want to do? It’s up to you to figure that out.

We all have different limitations, too. My brother was in a car accident two years ago and lives with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). He was my best friend and even though he’s alive, he’s different now and I lost him.

I lost my brother.

I have anxiety issues and obsessive issues.

I’ve had horrible skin and a super sensitive stomach that reacted to everything I ate.

My parents are going through a divorce.

I’ve been depressed and tired and miserable.

I’ve been scared because I wanted things to change, but I was scared for them to at the same time.

I’ve been angry.

I’ve lost friends.

I’ve been to three different colleges.

I’ve been pressured to go to school and get a secure, well-paying job because money is important.

I was fixated on my appearance, and thought that was what life was all about.

And you know what? Our limitations become your blessings. Our limitations are where we learn. They become the best thing that ever happened to us.

And eventually, hopefully, we learn that.

We learn how to take control of all of these problems and to make them work in our favor. We learn to tell other people that maybe they’re wrong, and we learn to listen to ourselves no matter what.

All I hear when people give excuses is, “I won’t do that because I am afraid.”

That’s really all it means. We can be afraid the rest of our lives and follow everybody else and do what they tell us to do. Or, we can do exactly what we want to do in every moment and trust that we will be supported.

Is it extremely scary? Of course it is, because we have to trust.

Trust the universe, trust something we can’t see or understand, trust life itself even though it’s harmed us so many times.

But if we can trust… so much joy and beauty awaits.

When we can let go of all goals and expectations, good things will start pouring into our lives. But we have to let go. We can’t be afraid and hold on to our ideas about life and how we want it to be and our plan for the future.

We have to get rid of all of the things that make us unhappy. We can’t let fear of the unknown get in the way.

That fear can manifest in different ways—fear of being wrong, fear of not having security, fear of what others will think, fear of ourselves.

If we are afraid, we will always live from that space of fear and it will never ever go away, no matter what goals we may accomplish, no matter what things we may do.

Do you want to be stuck there forever, or do you want to truly live? When you can live from your heart, the universe will guide you.

Do not be afraid.

“The most exquisite paradox… As soon as you give it all up, you can have it all.”

~ Ram Dass (also known as Dr. Richard Alpert, Ph.D) 

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Apprentice Editor: Kristin Monk / Editor: Renée Picard

Photos: Adisti/Pixoto, Lee/Pixoto