I hate shopping for toiletries; toothpaste is among the worst. Do I want gel or paste? Do I want it to whiten my teeth, protect them from cavities, or fight tartar? Do I want a mouthful of crispy mint, dragon fire cinnamon, or some sort of paste that tastes like the smell of Comet? All these choices make me want to curl up in a fetal position and just lay in the store aisle until the fluoride storm passes. Clean up on aisle five! I can’t handle the pressure.

The real reason choosing toothpaste is so stressful for me is because I’m slightly fearful of choosing wrong. This pressure is mostly brought on by the fact that the last two or three times I bought toothpaste I chose wrong – really wrong. I’d choose the one that offered all the fancy features, but I wanted paste not gel. Another time, again, going for the fancy features, not only did I accidentally choose gel AGAIN I also managed to choose a horrible flavor. I rarely ever win this battle.

Toothpaste isn’t the only thing in my life that brings on the stress of choosing wrong and failing. In fact, I’ve found most things in my life, particularly those related to my goals and dreams, cause this kind of stress in me to the point of just wanting to lay fetal-like in a store aisle (but if I’m in a Tiffany’s just leave me…. It’s so pretty there).

I discovered I was dealing with this stress/fear when I recently decided to tackle some art projects. I love doing artistic activities, but I usually have a difficult time getting started. Some of it has to do with just a plain lack of creativity and the rest has to do with this feeling that I’ll spend a lot of time working on something that will just turn out crappy. Lame, but true.

So as someone who lacks great artistic ability, I often look to those who make it look effortless. Two such artists are my friend Shawna and my five-year-old cousin Jaime.

Much of my and Shawna’s friendship is built on a shared love for the arts. As college freshmen, one of our favorite activities was to make glitter Christmas cards while everyone else busied themselves studying for finals. We still made the grades (I think… ha ha), but craft time was the glue (sometimes literally) that bonded our friendship. Many years later, we still do these kind of projects together but what she produces is actual art while whatever I do is usually a vain attempt to look like I’ve moved beyond the realm of macaroni necklaces and tissue paper wreaths (although I did make an awesome wreath in 6^th grade). She has such a natural, creative intuition and is a true artist.

Then you have my little cousin Jaime. He loves to draw and color, but it’s what he does with his crayons that amazes me. He’s not bound by rules – he mixes colors, blends one into the other and, when necessary, leaves some sections uncolored. In fact, I found this out yesterday when we colored on a menu together. I pointed out two sections of a cow he left uncolored and he said, “No, Colie. Those ones stay like that.” See? Artist. I would never think to leave something blank whereas, in his mind, blank spots contribute to the art. Wow.

While observing two of my favorite people function in their happy places I realized that I’m not as unbounded as they are. It might cross my mind to mix colors or patterns when choosing my wardrobe or to mix different shades of eye shadows, but I usually won’t do it for fear of looking ridiculous or just choosing wrong.

Same thing with my writing. I’d like to be the next J.K. Rowling and write something as epic as Harry Potter, but I think there’s this underlying fear that I’ll write something that will just bore people to pieces. Sure, it could happen, but I’ll never know unless I try. I need to focus on the possibility of writing something great rather than dwelling on what could go wrong.

Art is the example I’m using here, but what do you want to do and are just not getting done? My goals range from cleaning out my room to losing about 40 pounds to writing the next epic novel(s). Whatever’s on your list, start by making the choice to do it. Choose to be greater than whatever is holding you back from taking the first step or continuing on in the journey to reach your goals. Whether it’s fear of failure or just plain laziness (yeah, that gets me too), know that you are greater than whatever would try to bring you down and away from what you want to accomplish in your life (however great or small).

Just making a choice to go forward is already a step in the right direction. So what if you fail? It’s worse to never try. But know this: every day you must choose again to move forward in the direction of your dreams/goals. After all, Rome (and even Hogwarts) wasn’t built in a day.