The BE Project – In a world where you can be anything…. what will you be?

Meet Justin.  I have the honor to be his friend, but I still learn more each time I get a moment to talk with him.  Read below for his story and why he chose his word.

What word did you choose and why?

Justin chose the word Fearless. “I chose this word because I personally feel like when you are fearless you can do anything.  Some people live by fear, some people learn by fear and some people teach by fear.  I think that if you take all of those aspects into your own life and you hit everything head on, because there is no way around it, above it or below it… you have to go right through it.  If you can do that without the fear of failing, then you will succeed.  There is no such thing as “I cannot”, you just need to try harder.  When you feel like you are going to fall, trust God to catch you.  He will never give you more than you can handle and He only gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers.

Growing up, I was exposed at an early age to a lot of adult situations and things that children should not have to experience at young ages.  With that, I think I worked though a lot of my fears.  That taught me to live every day to the fullest and really appreciate and cherish each moment.  I really try to live every day fearlessly.  Don’t be scared to fail. Don’t be scared of the unknown.  Don’t be scared of what’s to come. Don’t be scared that it might not be what you expect.  Live fearlessly.  If you believe in yourself, if you do it with your truth, then whatever is on the other side is going to be awesome.

What would you tell yourself 5 years ago?

I would tell him that it gets better and it just keeps getting better.  You just have to believe in yourself.

What would you tell the 12 year old Justin?

I would tell him, It’s going to be scary, and it’s going to be sad, but if you live fearlessly – you will end up with this beautiful life.  The life that I know now. You never know what is coming around that  corner, but your final destination – it’s a beautiful place.  12 year old Justin… don’t give up.

What is The BE Project?

Have you ever stopped to think about who or what you want to be?  Most often there is a word that drives you.  If you sit in the silence and really think about what type of person you want to be… there will be a word, sometimes more than one word, that will guide you along and push you to keep being a better version of yourself.  This photo project has become something that has touched my heart and hopefully those that have participated. I chose to shoot all of the images in black and white because I wanted the least amount of distractions.  Just the human and the word.   This project is the stories of some amazing people, their stories, and what these words mean to them.  Some have participated each of the 3 years we have done this, some are new each time.  It’s an amazing honor to follow along in their journey and document who they are becoming.

Want to read more stories from others in our community and their BE words?  Head over to the BE Project Page and read the stories of the amazing humans that have participated. 

I challenge you to find a word that resonates with you.  Who do you want to strive to be?  What word leads you day to day?  Join us in our project – what word will describe who you want to BE?