Freedom Friday: Stop Letting Fear Make Decisions For You

Hello everybody and welcome once again to the unlearned podcast. I am your host, ruth Abigail Smith, and it is once again Freedom Friday, which is when me or me and one of my friends comes and shares with you something we've unlearned this week and how it has made us just a little bit more free. So this week we started a program at Angel Street, one of our summer programs, called Crew University, and it is a phenomenal time because it's a program where we get to spend really quality time with a group of our young ladies, where they get to earn a little summer income while learning about music, business, vocal training, financial literacy and really kind of preparing for some performances at the end of the summer. And so one of the segments that we have is called the Artist Journey, where we have different artists come in and share about where they started, how they got to where they are and kind of in between of their journey as an artist. And so on the first day we actually, as the Angel Street team, had an opportunity to share with the girls our personal artist journeys, and so I shared some things about how I got to be where I am, as far as where I am as an artist and what I do artistically and musically and all of these things, and in that we shared what some of our disappointments were, and I shared that. One of my disappointments was that in college, i made a decision to not pursue music education because I was afraid of doing a junior recital when I was a freshman. So I made a decision as a freshman that impacted me two years later, as a junior And when I got to my junior year, i realized I really could have done that, but because I was afraid and I made a decision based in fear, i decided not to do it and I missed my moment And it was something we were able to share with the girls is we cannot make decisions based on fear, and I think it's something that I certainly hear a lot and it's something I probably even say a lot, but it's really hard to do. It is something I'm constantly unlearning to not make decisions based on fear, not to make permanent decisions based on a temporary feeling, because that fear won't always be there, and the thing that was the most profound to me was that I didn't consider that I would not be the same person two years later. I wouldn't be a person who actually could accomplish the thing that they were afraid of. In the moment that they made the decision, i didn't consider that I would be different. I didn't consider that I wouldn't I wouldn't be the same Ruth Abigail, that I was as a freshman and that the person, as a junior, could actually accomplish the very thing that the freshman couldn't accomplish. I didn't consider the time in between. I didn't consider my own growth. I didn't even give myself a chance for that to be real, because I made a decision based on fear And I hope that we continue to unlearn making decisions based in fear, because so many times the moments that we give up because we're afraid of them don't come back around. Now. Don't get me wrong. I love where I am. I'm so grateful. I'm grateful to God that he really did. He brought me exactly where I'm supposed to be. But I wish I wouldn't have made. I wish I would have made the decision for a different reason. I wish I wouldn't have made the decision because I was afraid. I'm so grateful to God that he really did. Moving forward in my life, i never want to continue to do that. So if that's you, if you do that, if you find yourself, if you find yourself stopping or questioning or deciding to not do something because you're afraid in the moment. Consider the fact that there will be a time when you won't be afraid and there will be a time when you are better prepared and there will be a time where you will actually be ready to do the thing that you might be afraid to do today. You might have to say yes while you're afraid, but consider that after you say yes, the time in between the yes and the moment itself is crucial and critical to your, to your process and to your growth. Don't, don't discount yourself, don't count yourself out because of fear. Move on it anyway. Say yes when you're afraid. Say yes when you're not sure. Put yourself in a position to win. Bet on who you are, bet on who you will become, and don't just settle for who you see right now, because the person right now will be a different person tomorrow. So unlearn that y'all like unlearn. Unlearn making decisions based in fear. We have to stop doing that. I have to stop doing that. Your life will actually you will put your life on hold if you keep saying no in moments where you could say yes, even though you might be afraid. Unlearn that and let's keep moving towards freedom. Y'all happy Freedom Friday. I will see y'all next week. Have a great weekend. Make sure to check out our our series drop on Tuesday. It is going to be our last. It'll be our last episode in the unlearning religion series. We'll be dropping this coming Tuesday. You make sure to check it out, it's going to be a good one. All right Peace. Thank you once again for listening to the unlearned podcast. We would love to hear your comments and your feedback about the episode. Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Instagram and to let us know what you think. We're looking forward to the next time when we are able to unlearn together to move forward towards freedom. See you then. Hello everybody, and welcome once again to the unlearned podcast. I am your host, ruth Abigail Smith, and it is once again Freedom Friday, which is when me, or me and one of my friends comes and shares with you something we've unlearned this week and how it has made us just a little bit more free. So this week we started a program at Angel Street, one of our summer programs called Crew University, and it is a phenomenal time because it's a program where we get to spend really quality time with a group of our young ladies where they get to earn a little summer income while learning about music, business, vocal training, financial literacy and really kind of preparing for some performances at the end of the summer. And so one of the segments that we have is called the Artist Journey, where we have different artists come in and share about where they started, how they got to where they are and kind of in between of their journey as an artist. And so on the first day we actually as the Angel Street team, had an opportunity to share with the girls our personal artist journeys, and so I shared some things about how I got to be where I am as far as where I am as an artist and what I do artistically and musically and all of these things. And in that we shared what some of our disappointments were, and I shared that one of my disappointments was that in college I made a decision to not pursue music education because I was afraid of doing a junior recital when I was a freshman. So I made a decision as a freshman that impacted me two years later as a junior And when I got to my junior year I realized I really could have done that But because I was afraid and I made a decision based in fear. I decided not to do it and I missed my moment, and it was something we were able to share with the girls is we cannot make decisions based on fear, and I think it's something that I certainly hear a lot and it's something I probably even say a lot, but it's really hard to do. It is something I'm constantly unlearning to not make decisions based on fear, not to make permanent decisions based on a temporary feeling, because that fear won't always be there. And the thing that was the most profound to me was that I didn't consider that I would not be the same person two years later. I wouldn't be a person who actually could accomplish the thing that they were afraid of in the moment that they made the decision. I didn't consider that I would be different. I didn't consider that I wouldn't. I wouldn't be the same, ruth Abigail, that I was as a freshman and that the person as a junior could actually accomplish the very thing that the freshman couldn't accomplish. I didn't consider the time in between. I didn't consider my own growth. I didn't even give myself a chance for that to be real, because I made a decision based on fear And I hope that we continue to unlearn making decisions based in fear, because so many times the moments that we give up because we're afraid of them don't come back around Now. Don't get me wrong. I love where I am. I'm so grateful. I'm grateful to God that he really did. He brought me exactly where I'm supposed to be. But I wish I wouldn't have made. I wish I would have made the decision for a different reason. I wish I wouldn't have made the decision because I was afraid. Okay, moving forward in my life, i never want to continue to do that. So if that's you, if you do that, if you find yourself, if you find yourself stopping or questioning or deciding to not do something because you're afraid in the moment, consider the fact that there will be a time when you won't be afraid and there will be a time when you are better prepared and there will be a time where you will actually be ready to do the thing that you might be afraid to do today. You might have to say yes while you're afraid, but consider that after you say yes, the time in between the yes and the moment itself is crucial and critical to your, to your process and to your growth. Don't, don't discount yourself, don't count yourself out because of fear. Move on it anyway. Say yes when you're afraid. Say yes when you're not sure. Put yourself in a position to win. Bet on who you are, bet on who you will become and don't just settle for who you see right now, because the person right now will be a different person tomorrow. So unlearn that y'all like. Unlearn. Unlearn making decisions based in fear. We have to stop doing that. I have to stop doing that. Your life will actually you will put your life on hold if you keep saying no in moments where you could say yes, even though you might be afraid. Unlearn that and let's keep moving towards freedom. Y'all, happy Freedom Friday. I will see y'all next week. Have a great weekend. Make sure to check out our. Our series drop on Tuesday. It is going to be our last. It'll be our last episode in the unlearning religion series. We'll be dropping this coming Tuesday. You make sure to check it out. It's going to be a good one. All right Peace. Thank you once again for listening to the unlearned podcast. We would love to hear your comments and your feedback about the episode. Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Instagram and to let us know what you think. We're looking forward to the next time when we are able to unlearn together to move forward towards freedom. See you then.