I Can Kick the Can

I can remember playing kick the can.  I had the best hiding spot.  For some reason, the seekers kept passing by, yet they never saw me.  Each time, as they approached, I got that nervous, excited tremor throughout my body.  My heart would start to race and yet my anxiety made me freeze.  I was the only one left not found and my entire team was "in jail", but I could not bring myself to try and run out from my spot and kick the can.  I was frozen with fear. I had the power to free my team, but could not break out of the safety of my hiding spot.  I did not want to try, because I did not want to fail, but in not trying, I assured my own failure, and with that failure came an anticlimactic end to the game.
When I think back on this, I realize, not much has changed.  I am still afraid to try.  In some oddly demented way, I am preserving an image I have of myself.  If I don't go all out, I always know I can do better, but if I try my hardest and still lose, well then I truly am a loser.  Funny when I look at it this way, I can see what I think I am doing, but if I continue to hold back, I'll never know if I measure up the way I think I do.  I know I can win, now it's just a matter of letting myself go for it.  The mere act of trying will be my success.  I can kick that can and free myself from the limiting confines of my hiding spot, one can crushing moment at a time!!