Why do we live in fear? Fear is a driving force in all of our actions. We accept to do things in life we don’t want to do out of fear. At the same time, we do not take action on things we want to accomplish out of fear of failure.

Why?

What allows us to do this? How do we stop it?

Fear is our biggest enemy, but maybe it’s time we see it as our greatest asset and start to live our lives in a manner that allows us to use this fear to our advantage. Fear almost didn’t let me to start up a brand again.

Connect and Spread Love

In 2013 I started a clothing line with the name Connect and Spread Love or CaSL for short. It was a total disaster. I had a vision but that I couldn’t see past all the negativity in front of me. I was never able to put the message together in my designs thus causing me to doubt myself continually. I listened to the opinions of people who did not look out for my best interests. I lost a lot of faith in myself when my friends & family were not supporting me. I even got upset at all the people around me who refused to help me and buy a piece of clothing or an accessory I was selling. I was a total mess. I lost sight of what I was trying to do, and I believed everything I was doing was right. I was so scared to fail that I didn’t realize I was failing from the start.

It only took six months for me to quit this idea and move on with my life. I ended up stuck with over 300 shirts and bracelets, but the thing that I was stuck with that hurt me the most was that I had to start answering to everyone as to why I gave up. The failure of CaSL was after I dropped out of law school too. Within two years I stopped pursuing my career as a lawyer, writer, and entrepreneur. Everyone was diss-anointed in me. Most people never said it, but I felt it. I made so many excuses, and people could see right through them.

However, I never gave up.

For the next five years,, I told myself that I am going to sit my ass down and learn. I won’t rush into anything, instead I will take every opportunity in my life as a learning opportunity. I went through 7 jobs in 5 years. I learned a lot about failure and fear throughout those times, and it helped me grow as a person. I gained the skills needed to run a successful brand. I learned how to build a brand properly and how to destroy it as well. I was well read on books and educated by videos online. It was time for me to face my fear and turn it into something great.

The biggest takeaway from these tough lessons was this; fear is something we create so it can be just as easily destroyed as it is created.

D.R.E.A.M. started as HLD (Happiness & Love over Depression). It was another name I didn’t like, but this time instead of rushing into it I took a lot of time to come up with everything. Instead of being scared of failure I was scared of success and what might come with it. I used everything I learned and went at it full steam ahead.

Nothing changed. Not all my peers were ready to support me. Things took off slowly. However, I kept telling myself that there is a more significant purpose to do this and I need to continue to push as hard as I can or else I am never going to get to where I want to get to, and I couldn’t let this fear control me.

Eighteen months later and here we are. The initial goal was $5000 donated in our first year. At 18 months we are now close to $25,000. Why? I told fear to fuck right off and leave me be.

No More Fear

I’m not writing this to toot my own horn or to celebrate this achievement (which to me is now minor because I know we can do so much more), but I write this to help all of you know to not let your fear negatively consume you but rather to make fear your bitch.

Maybe it’s time for me to take my advice again because lately, I’ve been in fear too. Sometimes I fear that I’ll put out a new design and no one will like it. Other times I fear that one day I wake up and this will all just taken away from me. Some days I even worry that I will be overlooked in this mental health battle by my peers because I am not doing enough.

I’m done with that. From this day forward we are going full steam ahead again. No more fear. No more worry. I can’t let my anxiety continue to weigh on me like a ton of bricks. You know why? Because of all of you. I know you will continue to support this message and I will continue to fight for all your dreams as much as I can.

I love you all; I can’t stress it enough. Whether you bought one sticker or 10 hoodies, you are all amazing people.