Everyone needs a compass, but most of us don’t know how to use it.
Daily decisions that seem small are what cause us to veer off course.
It’s not about making monumental changes but small microscopic alterations in our daily decision-making to change the future narrative.
But why do we have a hard time doing it?
Will Ferrell was sitting in his trailer while filming the iconic movie “Elf” and he said something to the extent of “Where am I going to go from here after this thing flops” (paraphrasing a bit).
Even the people considered the “greats” don’t have it all figured out. They question their decisions. They have fear of how they are going to look to others. They have moments of weakness.
Fear creates walls around us.
Walls where we hope, by constructing them, we don’t get harmed by perceived threats.
For added measure, fear puts a roof overtop us to shelter from any potential future storm. There are no windows or doors. We fortified the fortress.
Better not even walk outside, there is some probability it’ll rain at some point.
Failure is just an attempt. Let’s not romanticize it anymore otherwise, we overthink trying.
We failed to talk until we didn’t.
We failed to walk until we didn’t.
We failed addition until we didn’t.
We failed to ride a bike until we didn’t.
We failed to throw a ball until we didn’t.
One of the more liberating thoughts we can have is knowing that not one single human being has life figured out.
We all struggle with insecurity
We all compare ourselves to others
We all go through periods of depression
We all think we aren’t close to good enough
We all experience the first-day jitters.
First time speaking in front of an audience.
First day of a new school year.
First time getting in the game.
First date.
We’ll always have fear if we don’t understand something.
If we are struggling with moving forward because of fear, curiosity might be the helper we need to call on.
Decisions are made through a mix of past experiences, current conditions, others’ judgment, fear, etc.
Being decisive is a key element to knowing if we are on the right path toward understanding who we are and what makes us happy.
Because indecision comes from our inability to make clear choices.
I’m starting to question if the fear of starting is partly that we don’t want the responsibility of what could happen if we actually succeed.
Comfort is the warm blanket over us as we hit the snooze alarm. Getting up and doing something actually creates a whole new set of unknowns.
Best to stay tucked in for a bit longer, I guess, so we don’t have to deal with the discomfort.
Failing takes up such a small finite space in time. It exists only to be a placeholder for the next achievement, one that wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for the failure that preceded it.
It begs to reason, then, that we should welcome failure with warmth and kindness.
We fear rejection only because we forget about its benefits.
If we don’t get rejected directly, it may cause us to worry or a loss of focus wondering why we haven’t gotten a response, why we are being treated a certain way, or if we did something wrong.
Yes, self-limiting beliefs since childhood will do it. But, maybe it’s the story we tell ourselves about the “event” that hasn’t happened yet that we fear to be doing.
Starting anything can be intense and overwhelming. We’ve been great at other things and are comfortable in those environments now. It’d make sense to keep doing those things.
Today could be that day. Maybe it was yesterday or it could be tomorrow.
At some point, there is a beginning to something new.