Don't talk yourself out of your dreams.

You know what's hard? Persevering despite disappointment or discouragement.
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It can be so easy to become discouraged when just a few things don't go our way, especially when those things are the things we hold dearest to our hearts. It can be so tempting to just let go of our dreams and goals when our previous efforts have all seemed to go unnoticed or unrewarded. The pain of trying something AGAIN after having been less than successful before and still willingly putting ourselves up against the daunting possibility of failure is often overpowering, debilitating. Who wants to experience rejection, failure, or setbacks?

So what do we do instead? We decide to just play it safe. We tell ourselves that it wasn't meant to be, it isn't for us, that we are stepping out of bounds. We convince ourselves to just live comfortably in the roles we're already in without the added risk of attempting to branch out and go after what we really want.

I am the QUEEN of haphazardly throwing in my rod just to see if something takes. Sure, I'll try something I've been dreaming of doing. Once. The problem is that if nothing takes that first cast and bait, I'm out of the water. I don't want to try again.

But what it boils down to is this: we have to believe in ourselves, get back up, and try again (yes, I'm singing Aaliyah right now). As cliche as this notion may seem, it is true. 

We've all seen the quotes on Pinterest. The difference in someone who is "successful" and someone who isn't is the fact that the one who succeeded simply did not stop at failure. They faithfully persevered. 

We have to stop talking ourselves down and out of the things we dream about. We can't hand ourselves over to our insecurities and fears just because it's easier to aim small than to TRY something great and not succeed.

And if we've been trying and trying and we have still yet to succeed? That's okay. Until we stop trying, we have never really failed.