This One Decision Changed My Life; It Can Change Yours Too
For as long as you can remember you’ve always wanted to do something different; You’ve wanted a different life. Yet, years come and go and you’re still the same old you doing the same old things. You’ve researched, attended classes and dreamt about yourself doing that new thing and living that new life so many times they’ve become jaded. These days you wonder if you should just give up on that dream. To be honest I don’t know if you can get the life of your dream. I don’t even know if I’ll get mine. But I do know this, you will surely not get it if you keep doing nothing.
All you have to do to get the life you want is to Get it! The solution is perhaps too simple most of us think it won’t work.
Do. Take action. Stop waiting for everything to be perfect before you do it, stop waiting to be perfect before you reach for the life you want. Don’t be like the old Abby.
If the old Abby wanted to run a race, she would wait to be sure where the starting line is, then she’ll check to be sure that her shoes are right, then she’ll ask herself if she’s ready to run and not stop till she gets to the finish line, etc. Before she makes up her mind several races have been run and as you can imagine, the old Abby didn’t run that many miles. You’ll only delay your wins if you keep waiting to see a clear starting line & have the perfect gear because none of those exist.
To get where you want to go, you have to leave where you are. The sooner you leave where you are at, the earlier you’ll arrive at your desired new destination. You can get angry, you can get sad, you can get frustrated and feel like a victim or a loser. You can scream and shout, loathe yourself, read tons of books & articles that will teach you how to get where you want to go- and I’ve done all these, but if you don’t take deliberate action and set one foot in front of the other to leave where you are at, you’ll never arrive where you want to go.
Planning & preparation for the journey are important but don’t get stuck in a circle of preparation.
No amount of preparation will substitute for the actual journey. You’ll never get to your desired destination if you never set out and embark on the journey.
Many of us are held back because we’re waiting for the perfect time and conditions before we begin. This was me for a long long time. I’ve always known I could be & do more. But I needed the perfect story idea before I wrote, I wanted to attain a certain level in life before I started encouraging people, I was waiting to create an endless stream of ideas before I started creating content, I was waiting till I am sure I’ll exercise daily before I resumed exercising: the list was endless but the result was the same. I produced very little of what I was capable of. People less capable and less qualified than me were making better progress and why won’t they? After all it’s not what you have that matters, it’s what you do with what you have. I wasn’t doing much with what I had and no one is to blame but me. What I knew meant nothing because I didn’t apply it.
It was only after I got tired of my own BS, angry at myself and decided: “Enough is enough! I’m going to do this anyhow anyway” that I changed my life.
Still not where I want to be, I’ve come farther than where I was. This is my 6th post on Medium this year. I started a Facebook where I consistently share encouraging content daily everyday since this year started. It is amazing progress for me and I’ve learnt more in these few month by doing that little drops indeed fill the ocean.
Maybe you’re like the old me. You want change so bad; you’re certain you want to move forward and though you know that you’re capable, you’re not doing anything serious because you’re waiting for the perfect conditions before to begin.
Sometimes you become clear about where you want to go after you start moving. You become better after you start doing. You become motivated to do more after you’ve done one thing. Make the decision to start.
Start with what you have & what you know. Modify as you go along.
Just begin. You can’t arrive unless you set out. Sometimes when you start, you’ll realise that you didn’t even want that and now you can rest easy. You may not have what it takes to get you to your dream destination but you have what it takes to get to the next step towards your desired destination. I’ve been happier with myself & more confident since I made the decision to just start what I want to do. You should start too. And once you start, keep going.
