Here is the fourth prompt for the Live Your Legend Writing Challenge.

What’s one thing you’re proud of?
Think about something you’ve done and accomplished.

The more we can identify our life’s highlights, the better we’ll be able to notice the patterns in our actions and thinking that led to those outcomes.

Okay, here we go!

There is one thing that I’ve always been proud of.  In fact, it is the first thing that popped into my head.  

After I thought about this, I changed my mind.  The reason I changed my mind is not because I’m not proud of this incident.  As a matter of fact, I’m very proud of it.  

I changed my mind because this thing was not a one-time incident.  Taking over custody of my brothers, after my mother died of lung cancer, was an 11-year long period. As I said, it’s not that I wasn’t proud of this. I just think I’m a bit more grateful.

I’m grateful that we made it through.  My brothers and I had a hard time.  There was a lot of dysfunction.  But we made it without any major difficulties.

They never got seriously injured. They never got arrested. They never got hooked on drugs. They never died and I never killed them. Lol.

I’m proud that they both grew up to be compassionate men who are willing to do for others as they would want to be done for themselves.

The thing that I want to share and what I’m truly proud of is when I did something despite it being my biggest fear.

When I was a child, I loved to sing.  My mother used to encourage me and I could find nothing wrong with it at all.

As time passed and I entered my teens years, I encountered some things that made me doubt everything I had believed as a child.
Slowly but surely I closed that part of myself off.  I was trying to protect myself from the ridicule I believed I had encountered.  I would only sing by myself where no one could hear me.

I went through years of being afraid to sing in public.  I could not even sing the happy birthday song at anyone’s birthday celebration.  I would mouth the words, but no sound was uttered.

It wasn’t until years later, in my late 30’s, that I bit the bullet and began to sing in public again.  
I had joined a choir at a church I was attending.  After some time, I ended up doing a solo performance.  It was nerve wrecking, but I pushed through.  

I’m not a rock star. 

But, I fulfilled a desire that was within me.  I wanted to experience what it felt like to be on a stage in front of people.  I wanted to know what it felt like to let my voice be heard.

From this experience, I learned that I would not die from singing in public.  I also found out that I could focus on something and achieve it, if I wanted it bad enough.

The most important thing I discovered was that fear doesn’t have to hold me back.  

I’m stronger than that!

And so are you.  We must never let fear hold us back from experiencing something we want to do in life.  We only get one life, one chance to do the things that are in our hearts. 

Do you have any experiences where you pushed past your fears?

Let me know about them in the comments below.

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I’d love to hear what you gotta say!