Saw a little kid who thought she was Wonder Woman

At Costco yesterday I saw a tiny little girl, maybe about 5 years old pushing a basket. It wasn’t a regular sized grocery basket either. It was one of those huge Costco mongo-baskets that, if filled, could feed the hungry children of Ethiopia. She had fallen behind her parents and was pushing that basket at full speed. She couldn’t even reach the handle on the cart! She was pushing it with all her might down the aisle and around the corner. It did not seem to occur to her that the cart was 10 times her size and that she shouldn’t be able to push that big ole thing or that she might hurt herself or any of that. She just did it like it was no big deal. I said to my husband, “ There’s not going to be anything in that kid’s life that she’ll think she can’t do.”
It got me wondering when we turn into the scared adults that we are. Sorry, the scared adult that I am…I won’t speak for you courageous folks! Once upon a time did I just do things without considering that I might fail? I can’t imagine doing that now. I analyze every aspect of every task and assess the failure-factor. If the failure-factor is great, then, hey man, you can forget it…I am not going to even give it a shot. I love nothing better than success and the idea that I might NOT be able to do something and FAIL in FRONT of people is almost terrifying. How did that happen? Whose fault is that? Mine?! No way, quit that crazy talk!
I guess everybody is afraid to fail to some extent. I just wonder when that doubt sets in and why my doubt seems “bigger” than other people’s doubt. This is a large and important issue in my life and really impacts my choices and opportunities. I can’t say that seeing this little girl has magically fixed this crazy-corner of my brain, but next time I’m scared to try something I’m gonna picture that tiny little girl pushing that enormous basket at break-neck speed with the confidence of…well, a five year old Wonder Woman.