Fear and smallness

I have come to realize that all my trouble with living has come from fear and smallness within me.
  —Angela L. Wozniak

We create problems for ourselves because we think we need to be more than we are. We fear that we are inadequate to the task before us, fear that another woman is more attractive, fear that the friends around us are bored by our presence.

Fear hinders us; it prevents full involvement with the experiences we are given to grow on. When we withdraw from a situation in order to save ourselves from failure, we have chosen instead another kind of failure: failure to take all we can from life; failure to be all that we can be.
Every experience can move us forward in the understanding of ourselves. When we withdraw, we stay stuck in a world we need to leave behind.

I will not fear whatever looks like trouble today. Nothing I can't handle, in fact, nothing I can't grow from will come my way today. My inner strength can see me through.

From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey