Most women believe they are afraid of failure, but Kimberly Rash suggests the deeper block is often fear of success. On this episode of Rooted to Rise, Kimberly breaks down how fear of success hides behind common excuses like needing more time, more certifications, or better timing, and how it quietly turns into self-sabotage through overthinking, comparison, and staying endlessly busy.

Kimberly shares candid, personal stories, from raising eleven children and working multiple jobs to stepping into Reiki and podcasting despite fear of judgment, to illustrate that confidence is built through action, not before it. She speaks openly about the difference between humility and shrinking yourself, and between serving others and abandoning your own needs.

The episode also touches on Kimberly's long-term vision to support women leaving domestic violence and individuals experiencing homelessness, along with a reminder that dreams do not have to be built in one giant leap. Listeners walk away with four reflection questions and a challenge to take one small, courageous step this week.

Episode 15

Kimberly Rash: What if it's actually fear of success? Today, we're gonna talk about what fear of success really looks like, how it shows up in our lives, and why so many women unknowingly play small even when they desperately want more. Most of the time, fear of success wears a disguise. It sounds more like, "Oh, I'm gonna start that next month.

Kimberly Rash: I need one more certification. I need a better website first. I need more followers. I don't have enough time." Now, sometimes actually those things are true, but sometimes they're hiding something deeper because success isn't just about gaining something. It's about change, and change can feel threatening to the part of us that wants certainty and safety.

Kimberly Rash: Relationships that only worked when you stayed small, the belief that you're just a mom or a wife or employee, caregiver, helper, or just the familiar identity you've carried for years. But growth requires change, and sometimes we resist success because we sense what it might require of us, and sometimes we're just not ready to do the work.

Kimberly Rash: Or maybe you overthink every decision, or you talk yourself out of opportunities, compare yourself to the other people around you, or you stay busy instead of moving forward. And the hard part is most self-sabotage feels logical. It makes sense. We convince ourselves we're being practical when really we're protecting ourselves from uncertainty

Kimberly Rash: Many women were taught just to be humble, to not take up too much space, to not be too much, in quotation marks, to not make others uncomfortable, to not outshine anyone else. And while humility is a beautiful thing, shrinking yourself is not. There is a difference between being humble and hiding. There is a difference between serving others and abandoning yourself.

Kimberly Rash: And you kept yourself so busy, and you could somehow make time to watch people's kids or run errands for somebody, or be of service to others, which is wonderful. We're supposed to serve other people, but you still need to keep space for yourself. And so you help build the dreams of other people. You are the encourager.

Kimberly Rash: I, again, we've talked about in different episodes, feeling selfish, w- taking time for ourselves and stuff, and that's not true. It's not true. So I do encourage you to take time to really write down your hopes and dreams, something that you wanna do with your life. And if you're not ready to step out and make change, let's make a plan, right?

Kimberly Rash: Let's do one step. It doesn't even have to be in the first 24 hours. It just has to be a step this week where you are ready to maybe step out for yourself. And instead of saying, when I get a different job," or, "When my kids grow up," or, "When I don't have so much going on in my life, when I'm not working so many jobs, when I'm not doing so many things."

Kimberly Rash: And we had a household many times of 11 kids all at once And we both worked two jobs, and while we were both working two jobs, we both went to college together at night, And then we were the people called when people needed stuff done because we're doers, we're workers, we're helpers.

Kimberly Rash: it makes our hearts full and happy to be of service to other people. So I get it, 'cause I'm still that busy lady. I- instead of... My children are grown up now, but I still work two jobs, I still work 40 hours and then another 25 or 30 sometimes at a second job. And but if I really wanted this that I'm doing now, and I'm speaking to you, how do I find the time?

Kimberly Rash: I'm gonna have some actual video podcasting, so I have a cute little setup here so when we actually record, it's aesthetically pleasing. And then I have my little office area where I do a lot of my editing And I find time to come here, and sometimes the lovely person that I rent this space from is always "Are you coming in?"

Kimberly Rash: That's joy. I've always loved helping other people become better versions of themselves. I was doing this long before I gave it a title. I've spent my life doing this. I've been raising other people up. I've been pouring into other people. And now I get to do it as a job, but it's so much more fun than that.

Kimberly Rash: But I was able to find the space and I find the time. You know what? I could've gone home two hours early today. I just... Literally, if you wanna know how crazy the schedule is, like on Tuesdays to Wednesdays, I wake up on Tuesday morning, I go to work 7:00 to 5:00, I go home for an hour and a half, I leave there, I go back out to my night job,

Kimberly Rash: And then tonight would be the night that I go home, and start getting ready for my weekend. I have my grandson on Fridays. But instead of going straight home, I came here because it brings me joy to do podcasts and I wanted to get some out before I go on vacation next week. So All that to simply say, if you really want it, you're gonna make the time.

Kimberly Rash: And when you're sacrificing that time for yourself, it isn't work, it's joy

Kimberly Rash: It just, yeah, it just is And I know a lot of the times, like our brains are wired for familiarity, not happiness, not fulfillment, but the familiar, even when the familiar isn't serving us any longer. If you spent years being a caregiver, the helper, the behind-the-scenes person, success can feel unsafe because it puts you in the spotlight.

Kimberly Rash: I know that I was afraid of judgment. And again, going back to what I always say, other people's opinions are none of our business. And you know what? It's true. So I had to just listen to myself, trust myself, and know that I was given a good and perfect gift, and that is to lift up others, to exalt others to make other people feel like they're worthy.

Kimberly Rash: I feel like sometimes, People, take my podcasts and, re-say them back to my face sometimes, and sometimes I'm like, "Is that a joke or are you mocking me?" I c- Y- you just do these things, right? I was in a relationship once where I was criticized for literally everything,

Kimberly Rash: From the way that I drove to the way my hair looked to the way I dressed, if I gained three pounds. Like, when people critique you constantly through your life, you are just waiting for the criticism. But it's okay. You have to understand that they're not pointing out really what's wrong with you, right?

Kimberly Rash: And it wasn't scary because I don't think it's okay. It was scary because I was waiting for the onslaught of emails and worried people for my soul to start going, and there would be judgment with most of those. a lot of them in love and a lot of them in judgment. some people came out of the woodwork who haven't even spoken to me in a year, and some of those people are related to me.

Kimberly Rash: So When opportunities appear, I know that part of you wants them and part of you wants to run. That's not weakness, that's conditioning, and conditioning can be changed, right? You can change and let go of the stories that you tell yourself. sometimes the biggest thing we need to release isn't the person or a situation, it's the story.

Kimberly Rash: It's the story that says, " I'm not qualified. Who do I think I me- am? It's too late. Other people are already doing it. I'm not ready." Those stories may feel true, but feelings aren't always facts, and every person doing something meaningful once stood exactly where you are, totally unsure, totally scared, wondering if they're capable.

Kimberly Rash: She shares the wealth. Like she says, "Here, go see this person. Go see that person." So when you see that you're wanting to do something that may already be in a saturated market, that may already be like there's a yoga teacher on every corner, there's a, a therapist on every other doorstep, it doesn't matter because the people who are supposed to be working with you, that you're meant to touch in this lifetime, that you're supposed to be with, they're gonna come to you.

Kimberly Rash: It doesn't matter. If there were 100 of them, they would still find you. It doesn't matter

Kimberly Rash: But just remember, feelings are not facts

Kimberly Rash: And sometimes we just have to become comfortable with expansion

Kimberly Rash: because this keeps resonating and coming back round and round, to my conversation with Tara. But, I have a vision, and I don't wanna tell my whole vision because It's still a work in progress in my brain. But for as long as most people have known me, they've known that there are multiple ways I've always wanted to help women.

Kimberly Rash: Not understanding that, you know what? Sometimes it takes 1,000 times to leave before you leave, all those kinds of things. Everyone else just rolls their eyes and they're like, "Oh, there she goes again." I want it to be a safe spot or provide a safe spot like that. Another part is I've worked with the homeless for, oh, I don't know, now, like 16 years.

Kimberly Rash: 16 years, 17 years? I don't know, somewhat, somewhere around there, I think. And in doing so, I have a heart for people in transition. I have a heart for watching people go through generational homelessness, generational patterns of behavior that they learned that they think that they can't be better than what they were taught to be, or they just are complacent with it.

Kimberly Rash: I wanna teach them how to do their finances. I want them to understand and have resources that, of all the things that they were just never taught, and give them a chance. And some will go and do amazing things after, and guess what? Some will actually just fall back in and do the same thing over and over again, right?

Kimberly Rash: It's madness, but it is what happens But no dream is too small. I'm starting one step at a time. So now I have my little office space. I'm helping women right now. You're listening to me. I hope that I'm giving you some encouragement. I hope that you're learning something or that you just laugh at me and you're having a great time.

Kimberly Rash: Why? Because I believe it's gonna grow. And I'm gonna find the time to get it done, even though if you logically look at it, there's no more time in my schedule. Ask my husband. There's just no more time. Where are you gonna fit it in, Kimberly? I don't know, but it's gonna come. It doesn't matter The right people are gonna collaborate with me.

Kimberly Rash: We're gonna build a rooted community that literally is going to breathe life into women and bring them back to their purpose, and that makes me really excited. And you know what? It may not happen in the next three years, but you know what? It could happen in 10 Don't give up on your dreams because they seem really far ' cause you are qualified And it's not too late.

Kimberly Rash: Go work a job that is more suited to you. But there's something about that place that's keeping you there, because if you really were done, you'd be done. And whatever your passions are, you can still do them on the side. You don't work seven days a week. So find, even if it's an hour a week, just to pursue something that gives your heart joy, and then you're gonna make space, and then it's gonna...

Kimberly Rash: You're gonna find an extra hour, and then another hour, and then another hour, and next thing you're gonna be like, "Oh, like I just created this whole little thing, and now maybe I'll go put something to it and put it out in the public."

Kimberly Rash: You need help, you want to figure out how to get something done, I betcha those women would rally around you and help you figure it out So don't play small

Kimberly Rash: Don't play small

Kimberly Rash: What if success isn't something to fear? What if success is simply becoming more of who you already are? What if the dream keeps knocking because it's meant for you

Kimberly Rash: You don't have to leap. You don't have to have everything figured out

Kimberly Rash: You just have to take the next step, and then the next, and then the next. Confidence rarely comes from action. It usually follows it. You just have to be brave and step out, even if you're scared, because everyone's gonna think that you're super confident, that you get your crap all together and you have it all figured out.

Kimberly Rash: Good for you. And that is the secret. I don't wanna say fake it till you make it, but believe in yourself until you make it

Kimberly Rash: And what is one action I've been avoiding that I can take this week? in the beginning of the show, I think I said, you don't have to take it in the next 24 hours, but this week. go over those four questions. Stop, put me on pause, write them down, put them in your journal, think about it

Kimberly Rash: So if you've been waiting until you feel ready, this is your reminder. Ready is not a feeling. Ready is not a decision. The life you're dreaming about isn't built in one giant leap. It's built through small, consistent acts of courage, and I know you are all so courageous. So stop waiting for certainty.

Kimberly Rash: Take the next step. Your future self is waiting for you there. And until next time, stay rooted. Release what no longer serves you, and rise. And I'll see you in the next episode