The glory of God is man fully alive!

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Here are some things I would do to start off with:

Write a book or two.
Become fluent in German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Latin, and every form of English that has ever existed.
Go sailing.
Learn to play saxophone and Spanish guitar.
Dance salsa, cha-cha, rumba, waltz (Viennese and regular), lindy-hop and various types of swing.
Archery.
Sword-fighting (like knights or soldiers,  not fencing).

Given enough time (and money), I'm sure I could do all of these things. I bet there are lots of things you would like to do as well. So what's stopping us?!?

Fear. Fear of failure, fear of imperfection.

Do you know what? Fear is the only thing that can stop you from living. Death can't even do it on his own, he has to employ fear of the unknown to really kill us. Death is really just the beginning of the next great adventure, but fear... fear stops us in our tracks. Fear can paralyze us to the point of indecision and stagnation, inducing a state of inertia which is nigh impossible to resist. But resist it we must, for a life lived in fear is no life at all, it is mere existence.

I have resolved to stop just existing and really live! It is very difficult to take risks and do anything without knowing and accepting the exact consequences, but I am determined to do so (within reasonable bounds of course; I don't have a death wish). Courage. Courage is not the absence of fear, but taking action in spite of it. I must take courage. We must all take courage. Each and every single day should be an exercise in courage, in knowing all the excuses we could make, all the things that could stop us from succeeding, and making the attempt anyway. Sure, there will be times when we fail. We can't do everything after all. But I am 100% sure that there will be so many more times we will succeed! Almost all the things I haven't done are not undone because of failure, but because I never even tried to do them in the first place!

So this is my resolution: to live. You should join  me.

“I plead with you--never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.” 

“Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence.” 

~Blessed Pope John Paul II