​This is my first blog. I never wanted to be a blogger. I, in fact, do not like writing of any sort. This blog for example, has been rewritten 3 times- I mean completely scrapped and rewritten over a period of weeks. So here I sit again and ask myself…why do I even want to write a blog right now? And more importantly…why am I telling you about my struggles instead of just writing a “perfect” blog??
 
Well it turns out that people can’t get to know you very easily online without one. And I want people to get to know me…the real me. Why is that important to me? I value authenticity! I do not like to follow (never mind get coached by) people who hide behind their masks of perfection. After all, we all know that “Nobody’s Perfect”. I would rather be a role model of authenticity. I want this so that I give people permission to be the same…fully authentic.
 
We are all on a journey…we are all works in progress and without authenticity, we get stuck. Perfection will only take us so far and then we get stuck- we literally become paralyzed and can’t move forward. We become stuck because perfection is rooted in fear of failure. Something I’ve struggled with my whole life. If I thought I couldn’t do something perfectly, then I wouldn’t do it. In fact, fear of failure is why this blog has taken me 3 painful attempts over a ridiculous amount of time to write. Deep down inside, I wanted it to be perfect. A fellow coach once asked me, “What is perfect and how do you know when you get there?”. I couldn’t answer her. I actually have no idea what perfect is never mind to know when I’ve arrived.
 
In order for me to be able to post this blog today (which by the way was much easier to write than the other two), I had to give myself permission to fail. I actually had to say it aloud to myself…“I give you Danielle permission to fail.” What I was really saying is that I give myself permission to move forward and not be perfect. I give myself permission to look at failure differently because I know that the only true failure is quitting or never starting in the first place. I am moving forward and posting this blog with my new view of failure which is...Failure is simply feedback and it allows us the opportunity to course-correct in the direction of success.
 
So right now, I give YOU, permission to fail.