Real Talk: My Biggest Fear, Failure

For this installment of Real Talk, we're gonna discuss my fear of failure. There are a lotta ppl who are deftly afraid of snakes, spiders, hurricanes, germs, and anything else you can think of. Things that cause danger obviously can scare me but failure is the only thing that could keep me up at night. I come from a family or productive people who accomplished more and more as the generations roll along. No one is immensely rich or famous, but everyone has carved out a nice education and life for themselves. Whether it is retiring from the military, getting a master's degree, working for the government or whatever the situation may be. There are a few "bad apples" who are few and far between but no stories of whole households falling to drugs, no homeless members bouncing between family members' houses and leeching money, no hardened criminals who are destined to be incarcerated forever. They never would deliberately add pressure on me to do anything, but inside I always feel that I owe it to my family and everyone who helped me become who I am to succeed. Failure, as far as not becoming at least a productive and self-sustaining person, is simply unacceptable. At times, the thought of not achieving at least what I previously mentioned truly does frighten me. I know the picture is too small, but double-click it and read the enlarged caption; it's fairly powerful. I can't be the first Orr not to become a role model and respectable figure. I don't think I'd be able to show my face around the people I love and respect so much if i did. So I've had to convince, no....decide to myself that it is simply not an option. To discuss things in car terms, I had to remember that I am the best and newest model of Orr, and even more important of young Black man. In May, I will be the newest model of Georgia Tech graduate. And therefore I'm offered advantages to achieve even more than the old model. This mentality has done fairly well for me that last 22 yrs. Things will change astronomically over the few years as I move into the post-college, post-athletic, business world where responsibilities and opportunities change so greatly; this poses its own set of challenges and obstacles that must be overcome along the way. The scary part is knowing how to handle what comes - when to be bold, when to go with the flow, when to hop way out on faith, when to regroup and rethink, etc. However, that is my burden to bear and the only way to rise above my fear is to prevent it from coming to fruition. Wish me luck. Real Talk...