The Fear of Shining by Ruby Cadoret

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Fear is something everyone fears, even grown men. But the fear I'm talking about is not that of sharks or spiders but that of ourselves. The quote Our Deepest Fear by Marianne Williamson illustrates that idea very well. The global meaning of that quote is that we all deserve to do our best. The verse that talks about "shining our light" means to be ourselves and to not be afraid of how good we can be. When the quote says "you're playing small does not serve the world", it basically means that, there is no point in hiding behind our weaknesses. We should always do our best or else one day we'll wake up and regret that we never showed people what we were really capable of. I especially like the line that says:"actually who are you not to be?" referring to being talented, brilliant, gorgeous and fabulous. That line hit me because there are a lot of texts that say stuff like " you're pretty", "be yourself", but this line affected me because honestly, who AM I to not do my best? As I read that line, I pictured a silhouette of a person looking out onto two open roads. One small the other bigger.The bigger one represents the path that most people take. The second, smaller one represents the path that only a few brave ones take. The picture represents someone trying to find their identity and them deciding if they will do their best which would mean taking the smaller less used path. That impacting line made me think of how people look up to celebrities and famous people and how they wish they could be like them. But who are they NOT to be? Who says they can't be themselves? Who says they can't do their best? Of coarse there will always be haters but if we let THOSE people define who we are, if we let our fears take control of our lives, than we aren't being true to ourselves. We aren't really living.