I was terrified. Not only had I never lived anywhere besides America, I had never even traveled outside of America before. I had spent my whole life comfortable, in a culture I knew, with a language I spoke, in a place where I could blend in. Why would I want to move to a totally foreign culture where I didn’t speak the language and where people would take pictures of my hair all the time?

In the six months before I moved to China, I constantly questioned the choice I was making. What if it was too hard? What if I couldn’t do it? Fear after fear gripped my mind—what if someone in my family died while I was away, what if I wasn’t brave enough to live in a foreign country, what if, what if, what if…

But if I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s to run toward what scares you. It’s that being brave doesn’t mean not being afraid—it means deciding to do it anyway.

So I moved to China, and I resolved to do things that scared me. When I first got here, even ordering food was frightening. I was so nervous to use my Chinese, so sure that people would be annoyed with me for not speaking the language fluently. But the more I tried to talk to people, the more I realized most of them wanted to help me.

I traveled by myself. I ate chicken feet. 😉 I rode my bike in China traffic (in my home state, there are more cows than cars). Every time something scared me, I made myself do it. And every time, I felt my confidence swell.

It is often the things that terrify us the most that are the most important. It is the experiences we fear that will change us and shape us and make us better. It will be hard sometimes; it might even feel impossible, but keep going. Run toward what scares you. And watch your life, and yourself, grow.