For me, I had to sew a sweater.

It started off as a simple need and a simple why: I needed a warm sweater for my cold apartment. I wanted to be transparent and share behind-the-scenes of being a fashion designer.

Here I am a few weeks ago making myself sew something simple I started 3 months earlier but put aside for fear of failure. ‘Why start something I would most likely mess up?’ is the broken record that plays inside of me.

With Disney music ablaze, I pulled up a chair and started up the machine. I actually got in a good groove and even lost track of time. It was during a final stretch break, when I had everything but the neckline sewn that I took a step back to look at what I had done and decided I wanted to quit. I could see the lumpy insides and when I pulled it on it was bulky and uncomfortable. That was enough for me to throw in the towel (or shall I say neckline?).

But it was my WHY that crossed me over to the finish line. I was committed to being open with you on this journey; roadblocks, imperfections and all, so I was determined to just finish the thing and was prepared to do what I never do: Share my imperfect creation.

Well will you take a look at that? It didn’t come out so imperfect after all!*

To think it took a single, negative thought to catapult all my fears onto all the work I did. But through this I learned, it also took a single why, to give me the strength to stand up from the weight of those fears.

Fear almost stopped me from more than a finished sweater. This is everything I gained from this project:

• The realization that I’m not all that bad of a sewer!
• Discovering that this time around, I didn’t hate the process.
• Knowing that because I did it, I am that much closer to being faster and better at it.
• And because of all the above, I am PUMPED and ready to tackle the next thing-especially if fear is involved.

Oh, And I got my first photo to post out of it! 🙂

With a strong Why, you can conquer your fear of failure by shifting your focus to it when things get tough. Find your Why for what you want to do.

*Just like in some store window displays, this sweater looks better on the mannequin than on a human. It truly is a bit lumpy and I wouldn’t wear it in public.