My Challenge: Lack Of Confidence (SharedAnswers07)

This is part one of my sample entry into the SharedAnswers07 group writing project that Yvonne and I are holding this month. I’m not eligible for the drawing, so this entry is just for the sake of writing an entry. You are welcome to use it as an example, or you can do your own thing.

For my entry I need to go back in time to a memory that seems so long ago that it seems like it happened to a different person. I remember when I first graduated from college and was working on my first job. Although I was well-qualified for the position, I was extremely nervous and afraid that I would make a mistake.

I remember lying awake at night, worrying about whether or not I had made a mistake during the day. When I did finally fall asleep, it seemed that I even did that job in my dreams!

A single mistake was all that it would take, I felt, to doom me to lifelong failure. I was so nervous, in fact, that I remember calling four or five friends to help me make career decisions every single time an opportunity presented itself.

“Should I keep the job I have, or should a take a risk with something new?” This is the question that I asked each of my confidantes whenever I had a choice. More often than not, my advisors told me to play it safe, to not take a risk.

So, I plodded on, underemployed in the same safe job for five years.

How did I overcome my challenge? Tune in later this week to find out.

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