This may sound a little pathetic, but I do think that being able to be free is success. For me freedom means to be free from your inner fears. Everyone has his or her inner fears, and the greatest challenge is to overcome them by doing the exact one (or more) thing, that you are really thrilled, paralyzed to do. It seems a paradox thing: to intentionally do what you are afraid of. Of course you don’t do that, because you are afraid … of being alone for example, of being left behind, of losing control etc. In my point of view, success is to overcome your inner demon. The trick is, that you may not know what is your biggest fear until you face it.
In my life this point came in 2007. I was traveling in Turkey with a group, and on one day we climbed up on a big volcano, 3750 meters high. Okay, up we go, it was tiring, but fun. The weather wasn’t very good, but at least it wasn’t raining. After a while a big gray cloud appeared, just at the moment when we started to walk on the ridge of the volcano. The big gray cloud sat down on the ridge, hiding away the remaining road from my eyes. I saw absolutely nothing of the approximately one meter wide path on the ridge, only the Big Gray Nothing. I started to be afraid of a possible wrong step, and then falling into the – already dead – volcano.
And panic came. I felt that I have to breathe, but the air is not coming, so I have to breathe deeper, still no air, so I began to gasp. “I don’t want to go into the Big Nothing, who knows what will happen to me, but I don’t want to go back all the way alone either. And above all: I don’t want to die here, on the top of a dead volcano” I said to myself. I quickly realised that I have to go into the Big Nothing (= unkown), if I don’t want to suffocate then and there. And I started to walk very slowly towards the gray cloud, and as I entered, it did not seem that gray, and that fearful at all. To put an end to the story: I went up with the help of my groupmates, and it was one of the best moments in my life.
So, this is my story about success, because I consider fighting against fears a success. Do you also have a story about fighting against fears? I’d love to hear it!
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find judit breathing & freeing herself of fear at her fabulous jewelry & accessories shop: vadjutka.
Wow… way to go!
Super story!! Thanks for sharing.
oh my goodness, how scary! proud of you for continuing tho hun. xx [but that does not mean that i will suddenly start hanging out with big spiders... oh no, forget it!!]
I am loving this series of posts. Each one has been insightful, uplifting, and inspiring. Very nice!
Nice job! It can be so rewarding to face your fears. And terrifying of course. I was never afraid of heights or flying as a kid, but after college they really started to freak me out (I think I really realized how mortal I am). So, I signed up for skydiving. It was very freeing and the memory helps me keep things in perspective!
This is most certainly a good way to measure success in my book! facing fears and overcoming them to obtain freedom. perfect. Reading This really made me feel invigorated. thank you for sharing. Also love love love your shop!
Judit inspires me in so many ways! Thanks for this very important reminder, and Congratulations, Judit, for conquering one of your fears!
[...] of “success”. I knew immediately what to write. Head over to Scoutie Girl, if you are interesed what success means for me. You may find other posts about success [...]
I really love this story–it is very similar to some of my fears–and I agree entirely with Judit about the feeling of freedom that comes when facing our fears. A wonderful post–thank you!
Judit, it was so comforting to read this, because we think very similar things about succes. I am very glad that you didn’t give up, it’s an edifying story. I wish you and everybody to overcome your/his/her all demons!
I agree, the best way to shed our fears is to confront them. It is more difficult when the origin of the fear is less well-defined and not a concrete situation/subject.
Very inspiring story- thanks for sharing!