When Fear Tries to Write Your Story:

A Letter on Fearless Productivity

There's a moment that comes to all of us. A moment when the gap between who we are and who we're called to be feels impossibly wide. When the dreams we carry feel too heavy, the obstacles too high, and the voice inside whispers that maybe we should just put it all down and settle for less.

I've lived in that moment more times than I can count.

The first time Multiple Sclerosis stole my ability to walk without assistance, fear tried to convince me my story was over. That leadership, creativity, and service were luxuries for people with working bodies. That productivity was a game I could no longer play.

Fear is a liar.

The Sacred Act of Getting Up

There's something deeply spiritual about the simple act of getting up. Not just physically rising from bed, though some mornings that alone requires every ounce of faith I can muster. I'm talking about the decision to rise above circumstances, to lift your voice when the world expects silence, to create when everything around you whispers destruction.

Getting up is an act of defiance against despair. It's a declaration that your purpose is stronger than your pain.

Every morning, I face a choice. I can let my forty brain lesions define my day, or I can let them refine it. I can focus on what MS has taken, or I can focus on what God is still revealing. The mornings when I choose to get up, to move toward my calling despite the tremors and fatigue, those mornings are prayers in motion.

Your "getting up" might look different than mine. Maybe it's opening your laptop after a soul-crushing rejection. Maybe it's speaking kindly to yourself after years of self-criticism. Maybe it's simply choosing to believe, one more day, that your life has purpose.

Whatever it is, it's sacred.

The Liberation of Giving

Here's what I've learned about giving: it's not charity. It's freedom.

When we give to our community, when we pour our talents and time into lifting others, we break the chains of self-absorption. We step out of the prison of our own struggles and into the expansive territory of shared humanity.

My work with Rising Tides Charity isn't separate from my productivity. It's central to it. When I create platforms for other creatives to shine, when I use my voice to amplify voices that have been silenced, when I pour my energy into serving others, I'm not depleting myself. I'm discovering myself. Jesus taught us this mystery: whoever loses their life finds it. In the giving, we receive. In the serving, we lead. In the emptying, we're filled.

Your gifts aren't just for you. The creativity stirring in your spirit, the ideas keeping you awake at night, the skills you've honed, the story only you can tell—these are meant to be poured out. Not hoarded. Not protected. Not saved for "someday."

The world is waiting for what only you can give.

The Transformation of Growing

Growth isn't comfortable. It's not supposed to be.

Every time I've grown, it's been because something broke me open. My MS diagnosis. Financial struggles. Creative failures. Moments when the person I thought I was couldn't carry me where I needed to go. Those breaking moments? They're invitations.

God uses our limitations to expand our capacity. He uses our weaknesses to amplify His strength. He takes our brokenness and creates beauty we never could have imagined when we were whole. I'm writing plays and books and leading businesses not in spite of my MS, but through it. The disease that was supposed to end my story became the catalyst for a new chapter. What the enemy meant for destruction, God is using for redemption.

Your growth isn't about becoming someone new. It's about becoming more fully who you already are. It's about shedding the false identities, the limiting beliefs, the stories you've been told about what's possible for someone like you. It's about remembering that you were created in the image of the Creator Himself.

Living with Spirituality, Creativity, and Service at the Center

This is what I've built my life around: spirituality, creativity, and service. Not as separate compartments, but as an integrated whole.

My spirituality fuels my creativity. My creativity enables my service. My service deepens my spirituality. It's a cycle, a rhythm, a dance. When productivity is disconnected from purpose, it becomes slavery. When achievement is separated from service, it becomes vanity. When success ignores the spiritual dimension, it becomes hollow. When you get up with purpose, give with intention, and grow with faith? That's when productivity becomes fearless. That's when your work becomes worship. That's when your life becomes a testament to what's possible when we trust the One who called us.

The Invitation

I'm not writing this from a place of arrival. I'm writing from the trenches, from the daily battle against fear and fatigue, from the messy middle of pursuing impossible dreams with limited resources. I'm also writing from a place of conviction. I know, beyond any doubt, that we were not created to live small. We were not given talents to bury them. We were not called to let fear write our stories. So here's my invitation: Get up. Give. Grow.

Get up one more time. Take one more step. Write one more page. Make one more call. Choose faith one more time over fear. Give your gifts away freely. Serve your community boldly. Use your voice courageously. Grow through the pain. Learn from the failures. Transform the obstacles into opportunities.

This is fearless productivity. Not productivity without fear, but productivity in spite of it. Not achievement that ignores our humanity, but effectiveness that honors it.

Your voice is rising. I can hear it.

The only question is: will you let it?

Keep painting the masterpiece in the mirror.

— Winston Archibald Wilson

Ready to transform your approach to productivity? Download my book "Get Up, Give, and Grow" and discover the framework that's helped me lead through MS, build multiple businesses, and create lasting impact. Your story isn't over. It's just beginning.