You want to live your dream. It’s there inside, bursting to be set free, but you’re afraid. Fear of the unknown, or of the reactions of others, or of future career implications… There are many fears that hold us back and prevent us from living the life of our dreams.

Cycling with bison in British Columbia

Every single one of us who has taken off to travel the world has faced those fears, and we’ve managed to overcome them. You can too.

More often than not, it’s the very first step that’s the scariest. It’s making the decision to do it that’s overwhelming and seemingly insurmountable. Once that’s done, the rest is easy.

When my husband first brought up the idea of riding bicycles from Alaska to Argentina with our children, I thought he was nuts. I was convinced he had lost it; gone over the deep end into the vast oblivion of insanity. Ride bikes to the ends of the world? That’s crazy talk.

Yet when I actually stopped to think about it, I had to admit to myself I would love to do it – if I wasn’t so scared. It was fear that was telling me he was crazy. Fear that was holding me back.

What was a scared of? When I was totally honest with myself, I admitted I was afraid of failure. I didn’t want to face the agony of defeat or the humiliation of having to say I had failed. It was, in my own perverse way of thinking, better to not start at all rather than to risk failure.

And then one day I sat down and had a serious talk with myself. “Self,” I said, “if you head out and take that first pedal stroke you might fail. You probably have a 50/50 chance of failing, actually. But a 50% chance of failing means an equal chance of success.”

If I never set out in the first place, I had a 100% chance of failing.

When I looked at it that way, it made no sense to try. It was crazy to stay home in my safe, comfortable environment that wasn’t my dream. I might fail, but I would at least fail trying.

The rest, as they say, is history. My family flew to Alaska and started pedaling south. We pedaled 17,300 miles through fifteen countries in the next three years. We cycled over mountain passes higher than the highest peaks in Colorado and battled headwinds for 1500 miles along the Peruvian coast. We sweated in the intense Central American heat and shivered through winter storms in Wyoming. But we kept putting one foot in front of the other until we reached our goal.

What fears are you facing? What fears are holding you back from living your dream? What would you do if you were not afraid? Do it. Now.