Finding the courage to step out on your dreams can be daunting. It can feel more than scary.

What if I fail?
What if no one likes it?
What if?
What if?
What if?

All the things that take up residency in our minds and hold us hostage. Keeping us from moving forward and taking a chance on the thing that makes us happy.

I sat in a twenty-year holding pattern. I listened to the same recording of ‘what if?’ that played in my head repeatedly.

It is scary. The great big world is filled with scary things.

But…

It is also filled with wonder and surprising possibilities.

What if it works?
What if it is successful?
What if you find that you can do it?

Whatever your it might be.

For me, it was writing.

I love writing. I love storytelling. It’s something that I found I enjoyed early on in life.

I wrote short stories, novels, poems. All the things, but they sat in a box for over twenty years because I was afraid.

Afraid that someone might think it wasn’t very good. Afraid that if I put one comma in the wrong place, someone would see it and it would disqualify me from ever writing again.

By the way, commas are my weakest link.

I face it and move on.

I know we live in a world that says everything has to be perfect.

It doesn’t.

It just needs to be honest and authentic.

Starting the blog was scary.

Publishing my first book was scary.

I’m now on my third.

I found that I could do the hard thing.

I could push through and commit to finishing what I started.

I now have novels, short stories, and a blog. All because I stepped out and made the decision to not be held hostage anymore.

Is my writing perfect? No.
Did I fail at my first two businesses? Yes.
Does everyone who reads my work fall in love immediately? No.

But….

Am I happy? Yes.
Am I doing what I love? Yes.
Is everyone a huge fan of my writing? Not all.

But eventually, I found my audience. My tribe.

I found my joy and the wonderful opportunities behind every door that, though scared, I dared to open.

Maybe there is a door you’ve been afraid to open, too. What if it works?

— J. Lashelle

A Note from J. Lashelle

Reshaping Happy, my newest novel, is now available on Amazon. It is one of the stories that spent many years waiting for me to finally open that door.