Where are you holding back?
Step into a moment of reflection with Tiffany on this reflective minisode as she shares how the poem 'Our Deepest Fear' by Marianne Williamson transformed her understanding of fear and encouraged her to stop playing small.
Join her on a personal exploration of fear — not as mere hesitation but as something that held back her true potential. Through the powerful words of this poem, Tiffany offers a pause for thought, encouraging you to tap back into the fearless confidence and pure self-expression we all remember from childhood. Releasing fear not only frees you, but also shines a guiding light for others, helping them overcome their own self-doubt.
This episode is an invitation to face your fears head-on, to rediscover your inner light, and to courageously step into a life that truly reflects who you are.
If you've never listened to Tiffany's first ever episode on Scared Confident -- her Fear Interview with Nathaniel McGuire -- check it out here
Timestamps:
[00:00] Intro
[00:40] How this poem impacted me
[01:51] ‘Our Deepest Fear’ by Marianne Williamson
[03:23] We’re meant to shine as children do
[04:17] Where are you holding back?
Tiffany Sauder [00:00:01]:Welcome to scare confident. I'm your host, Tiffany Sauder. I don't know if you've noticed, but over the last month or so, we've added a second episode that drops every week in the podcast world. This is called a shorty, which I think is kind of an awkward word to say, but that's what it is. It's like three to ten minutes of me just like talking about something that's on my mind. It doesn't need to be this kind of big, informed episode. It's just like encouragement, things that are on my mind, stuff that keeps coming forward for me during the week. So this time, what I want to do, this poem called our deepest fear by Marianne Williamson.
Tiffany Sauder [00:00:40]:I actually want to read it to you, and I'll give you the background on why this piece is so important in my life when I was coming out of 2020 and kind of on the edge of figuring out how I was going to chase down fear. Reading this poem, I don't even remember where I saw it, where it came from, but reading this poem made me realize what it is that I felt inside of me was fear. It gave me a name for it because I was not feeling the like. Stereotypically, the way that I would have explained fear was not the way I was experiencing it, but what I was doing was I was intentionally playing small. And I didn't know why, but I felt that there were these things that were like, unbirthed, undone inside of me that I needed to get out these, like, additional ands. And so this poem, I felt like, began to give me a broader definition of maybe the word fear and also see what was going on inside of me in a little different way. So I actually want to read it to you, which probably breaks some code of podcasting, for sure, but I want to read it to you. And I just want you to listen to the words and see what connects and pokes at you and where you're at right now in your life.
Tiffany Sauder [00:01:51]:Okay, here we go. I'm going to read it. Our deepest fear by Marianne Williamson. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light and not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be? Brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
Tiffany Sauder [00:02:20]:There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. I just love the concept in here of this idea of that as I claim the gift of freedom from fear, from living underneath my imposed expectations of what I think other people think of me or whatever it is, as we free ourselves from that, we are a beacon for others who are, like, trying to get out from underneath that same rock. And I don't know, I just love the perpetuation of that and this line that says we are all meant to shine as children do.
Tiffany Sauder [00:03:23]:I feel like I see this in my household every day. Quincy, at three and a half years old, is the most free person in our household. She dances through every single room asking for us to see her. She's feeling beautiful and talented and smart and funny and like she is, like fully stepping into who she is and nobody is teaching her to play small. She's like stepping fully into herself. And so I love that statement, too. Like, we are all meant to shine as children do. Go to a park, watch, children.
Tiffany Sauder [00:04:00]:Look at me, mom. I'm standing on the tallest one. Like, look at me. I built the biggest castle. Like, look at me. And where do we learn to not do that? So I know lots of people have opinions on where we learn to not do that, but I don't really want to get into that. That's not really where I want to go with this. What I want to go is where in your heart are you holding back? Where are you not stepping as fully into your life of hand as you know that you were built to do, as you were given the talents to do.
Tiffany Sauder [00:04:29]:Who are you not reaching? What are you not doing? And take courage and step out and step into it. So, anyway, this poem has been part of my journey and I just wanted to really intentionally share it with you as we're kind of. I'm in a state of reflection and kind of looking back at my own journey and reading this and this place in my life has continued to give me courage to just step in and step out and step into who God's made me and let the rest be the rest. Thank you for joining me on another episode of scared confident. Until next time, keep telling fear. You will not decide what happens in my life. I will.
