What fear has held you back the most in your life?

Fear is something we all carry, though it shows up differently for each of us. It can keep us safe, but it can also hold us back from opportunities, relationships, and growth. We asked some brilliant members of the community to share the one fear that has shaped their choices the most—and their answers reveal just how universal, yet deeply personal, our struggles with fear really are.

Tiffany Kindred

The greatest fear that held me back was the fear of being seen. For a long time, I was comfortable working behind the scenes, supporting others and ensuring everything went smoothly, but I avoided putting myself or my story out there. Over the past few years, I realized how much that fear was costing me. Read more>>

Taj Noir

The fear of failure has held me back the most. For a long time, it was that little voice in my head constantly asking the wrong questions — What if you fail? What if it doesn’t work? What will people think? That voice made me second-guess my decisions and sometimes even stop before I started. Read more>>

Rylan Benèt

The fear that’s held me back the most is failure. And not in a hypothetical way, I’ve dealt with failure more than once, and it still weighs on me. I would love to make content creation my full-time job and fully commit to making meaningful videos that resonate with my audience, especially on YouTube. Read more>>

Dalby Biehl

Fear of failure is something that burns so intensely in myself that sometimes I worry that if I take too many risks, I’ll go falling to a point of no return. I try to do everything right, everything by the book, and everything in a way that no one gets hurt or offended. Read more>>

LexC

I have a huge fear of being seen as the villain in people’s stories. I am terrified of it, and I don’t know when I developed this fear. However, I now recognize how crippling it has become. It has caused me to be slow to speak up for myself. Read more>>

Ty Milks

The biggest fear that has held me back has always been fear of the future, fear of the uncertainty of what may or may not come. It had lead me to believe I will fail, and I won’t accomplish my dreams. Read more>>