Stop Shrinking and Start Shining

The quote "When we shrink from the world, our souls shrink, too," is a very true statment. When we doubt what we have to say and don't speak up for what we believe in we are left with the annoying what if questions that can haunt for years. What if what I had to say could have changed the world? What if I could have made a difference in someones life? These questions do nothing but injure self confidence in what you have to say. When you speak out you have no regrets and you do not have the nagging in your mind of what you might have done. There are times where I have stayed silent even when I desperatly wanted to speak out, but was afraid of being scorned. Those what if questions sometimes still pop up in my mind saying "Why didn't I say something! What if I could have been the one to change a persons life for the better!?" After letting these thoughts creep up we being to wonder how could I have made a difference? We begin to think that to make a change we have to be these "super human" or the "perfect standard." We do not think that as an ordinary person cane make a difference. There is a quote that has stuck with me from the time I first heard it. And it states "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?" (Marianne Williamson). This quote reminds me that the role models we look up to and idolize are just people too. That they were just like the rest of us until they spoke out and stopped shrinking away from the spotlight and started to shine.