"What is it that people fear? People fear themselves. You have to love yourself and know that God loves you as you are. And what is it that most of us fear? Most of us fear rejection. We fear the emptiness and anxiety in our lives, and so we’re always looking for affirmation, understanding, acceptance from others.
But it can’t come that way. It has to come from within, when you’re no longer afraid of who you are. It’s like President Roosevelt’s statement, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” While he was applying that to the nation and the world, the truth of it is that each person every morning has to wake up and say, “I’m not afraid to face this day. I am up to the task, whatever it might be.”
A quote from civil rights icon, and my personal mentor and hero, Ambassador Andrew Young, in an interview from my upcoming book on leadership.