I gave a brief speech in front of the majority of my state’s legislators this week. I wasn’t really prepared for it, and I wasn’t really sure what I was going to say, but I’ll be honest - I kind of rocked it.

I’ll be honest about something else - on more than one occasion I took a failing grade on an assignment just to avoid speaking in front of a classroom of people. I got so nervous during a speech about the Loch Ness monster my freshman year of college that I began to cry two minutes into it. I skipped the last five questions of a math test because I was too shy to ask my instructor if I could borrow a pencil. I let more than one relationship fail because I refused to answer my phone, because for the last five years or so, I needed at least thirty minutes to prepare myself for a five minute telephone conversation. Then, at the end of my freshman year of college, I simply decided

I can’t live like this anymore.

So I did something so far out of my comfort zone that I was sure the stress would kill me. I ran for student body president of my college. Take the worst fear you’ve ever felt, magnify it by ten, and that’s how I felt the day that I won. Now, instead of a three minute speech about Nessy, they wanted me to give a ten minute presentation to a board of administrators about why I feel we should or should not increase tuition. They wanted me to go into meetings, alone, full of people I didn’t know. Then they started asking me to give speeches to donors, to the foundation members, to the student body, to the community members. I’ve never been so angry with myself for any other decision. What the fuck was I thinking?

I didn’t just survive that last year, though. I triumphed. I approach strangers all of the time now and just make conversation. I talk for hours on the phone to anyone I want, no pacing, no shaking, no pretending my phone died. I ask guys on dates who are too shy to ask me first. I give off the cuff speeches for classes and, the other day, in front of a room full of state legislators and administrators. I’m so okay with it now. I appreciate all of the people who worked with me and encouraged me to do my best, but in the end of it all, I have myself to thank. I made the decision to not be afraid anymore. I made the decision to invest in me. I made the decision to better myself, for the sake of myself, and I succeeded far beyond what I thought possible.

Never fear what you aren’t capable of, the only thing that should scare you is the intensity of what you are capable of. Let yourself live up to your potential. Stop dipping toes and taking sample sizes of life. If there’s something you want, something you don’t think you can do, go at it with full force.

Dont be the only thing standing in your way.

To those who scoffed at the idea, and criticized my work:

I’ll assure you, when it’s finally my day, I won’t forget those who helped me, nor those who stood in my way.