“I held my heart back from positively accepting anything, since I was afraid of another fall, and in this condition of suspense I was being all the more killed.”
— St. Augustine of Hippo
View social media caption
Are you holding yourself back from love, success, or healing because you're terrified of getting hurt again? St. Augustine wisely wrote: "I held my heart back from positively accepting anything, since I was afraid of another fall, and in this condition of suspense I was being all the more killed." What is one small step of vulnerability you can take today to release the fear of falling and start truly living?
About this quote
We have all experienced the exhausting urge to shield ourselves after a devastating setback. When a dream shatters, a relationship ends, or a plan fails, our survival instinct is to build high walls around our hearts, believing that if we never fully commit, we can never be hurt again. Yet, as St. Augustine so profoundly captured, this self-imposed emotional paralysis does not actually protect us—it slowly suffocates us. Staying in limbo to avoid pain only robs us of the very joy we are searching for. True emotional healing and personal growth do not happen in the safety of isolation, but in the courage to remain open despite our fears. The antidote to the fear of failure is not numbness, but vulnerability. To step out of the painful suspense of 'what if' and step into your power, you must accept that falling is a natural part of the human journey. Only when we dare to risk another fall do we give ourselves the permission to truly fly.
Photo Credit:
Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash
