A Letter to the Person Afraid to Take Risks

Being a freshman in college, I've probably had to take more risks in the last seven months than I've ever taken in my life. Deciding where to go, leaving home, making friends, studying a profession that (even though I love it) pushes me out of my comfort zone daily - these are just some of the things that I've considered 'risky' that I've encountered recently. For all of them, I was afraid. I was scared to leave home. I was scared to talk to my roommates, let alone make friends. I was scared my first day of class when I had to sing a song in front of everyone. I was scared.


And, of course, I've lived through all of these things. That's what we do as humans: we live. Even when we do something we're scared of, we live through it.

However, knowing that and living that are two different things entirely. And even though I know that I've made it this far and am still in one piece, it can be just as hard for me to continue to take risks.

Recently, I've hit a few obstacles in my work at school. One is physical, and is something that I've been slowly and steadily working out, but the other is mental. Growing up with anxiety, and just being a shy person overall, I learned to navigate the world with a set of walls; a way of protecting myself from the crazy place that is the world (thank you to my acting professor for this really great metaphor). In class, however, and especially in relation to the field I'm in, these walls have to be brought down in order for my best work to come forward. Here's the thing, though: it's scary. Terrifying, in fact. The thought of putting my real, raw, vulnerable self up in front of my peers, even though I love and trust them, is enough to make my heartbeat go faster and for tears to well up in my eyes.

This sort of fear isn't only reserved for shy acting students. Everybody and their brother has fears, has mountains that they're scared to climb, has risks in front of them that they aren't sure if they want to take. Being afraid to move out of your comfort zone is completely normal; I mean, there's a reason that it's called a "comfort zone". Doing something that makes you uncomfortable is frightening, whether that be going for a new job, asking your crush on a date, trying a new hairstyle - anything. If you're a human being living on Planet Earth, you probably are afraid of taking risks. So remember that you're definitely not alone in this one.

I wish the answer to this dilemma was "just don't be afraid", but that's completely unreasonable. And, if it were as simple as that, everybody would be taking risks all the time without much thought of consequences (which, honestly, sounds a little dangerous). Our hesitancy to take risks is something that has kept humans living for as long as we have. But, in terms of everyday life, it is something that can hold us back from discovering our full potential.

One thing that I have noticed is how often I compare myself to others (something that happens to almost everyone, thanks to how big Instagram, Twitter, etc. is present in our lives). It's easy to look at someone else in class, or online, and think, They're doing so much better than I am. And, on the outside, maybe they are. But everybody (everybody) has problems they're dealing with under the surface - or offline.

There is no simple or easy way to become more comfortable with taking risks. It's definitely not something I've overcome - and maybe I never will fully overcome it. But, for now, I'm starting with little "risks": talking to more people, answering more questions in classes, allowing work to be shared with my peers, or doing a combination in ballet without trying to shrink into the background when I make a mistake. Even in the last week or so that I've encouraged myself to be a little more daring, the more I've noticed that it gets a little less scary every time. And if I can do it, you can do it too.

Lots of love,