Put aside your fear of failure to erase impossible

Live enough and you’ll see failure, take enough chances and you’ll experience failure.

Fear of failure has handcuffed humanity, convincing many their dreams are just merely impossibilities.

Fear is real. Failure is inevitable for all who color outside the lines. So, when should risk be taken and how do you determine it’s worth it?

What if I submitted Bronnie Ware’s 2012 book “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying” for consideration? She spent years helping those facing end-of-life issues and recurring pattern seamlessly connected them.

Of five regrets, one overshadowed them all. They regretted opportunities missed due to the fear of failing.

Bronnie observes, “Most people had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.”

Hindsight’s 20/20 and looking back it’s easier to say, “Muster the courage and take chances to live your dreams” than living a lifetime of failures for everyone to criticize. But risking failure for fulfillment is more antiquated than our elders.

Interestingly enough, the Chinese word for crisis is two separate symbols combined together, translating into the words “dangerous” and “opportunity.”

Difficulties become risky opportunities. Any search for meaning, will certainly face tragic opportunities requiring courageous responses to chaos embodied in a field of dreams that cannot be ignored.

We’re rapidly approaching graduations and I can’t help but think about a graduate who epitomizes the concept of the tragic optimist.

He’s tasted the depths of defeat many times, yet continually attempts to try again. Face to face with fear, he finds fortitude to overcome. His courage to risk coloring outside the lines is completely contagious. He knows firsthand how real failure feels, but the game compels him to fail forward finding ways to compete and contribute for the love of the game, in spite of his little known setback.

I know no one crazier about baseball, for him it’s not just a past time; it’s a passion.

Few know Thomas Kimble related to baseball, but I hope you’ll never forget his resiliency. He pitches for North Hardin High School and loves the curveball, but that’s not why you’ll remember him.

He started playing baseball at 4, but almost tragically gave up the dream his first year. Running in the dugout announcing, “Dad, my hand hurts I can’t hold the ball” in total panic.

I hesitated telling him the severe burn injury to his right hand was affecting his playing.

Before I could articulate words, I reached into our equipment bag pulling out my glove, “When you play baseball you’re supposed to be left handed like me. Put my glove on and throw like I do.”

The rest is history. He’s played competitively ever since. Thomas is completely right handed except for baseball. He’s not ambidextrous. He doesn’t write, bat or do anything else left handed. The reality is he pitches with his non-dominate hand.

I found only one other person with the same story: William Edward Wagner aka “Billy the Kid.” They share rare company as being struck out by lefthander’s who’re actually right handed is tragic optimism making the impossible possible.

What if attitudes changed about what’s possible giving ourselves permission to fail and be imperfect?

What if failure wasn’t an issue and you started living true to yourself instead of the life others expect?

What if you were honest about the possibilities of coloring outside the lines?

God might show up exchanging your tragic impossibilities for heaven’s endless possibilities; displaying their eternal colors in your life.

What if you followed your dreams with no regrets?

You might start believing Thomas and Billy, both right handed, could strike out baseball players as lefties. It would also change your thinking about yourself, empowering you to become a tragic optimist, making the impossible not only possible, but routine as strike outs at the ball game.