Gotta Start Somewhere

How to Take a Chance on your Interest and Start Before You’re Ready

I knew this year would be one of transition with my daughter starting Kindergarten. Now both of my kids are in school full time so I find myself with extra time on my hands, something I didn’t have much of last year.

I always enjoyed writing and I told myself this year would be the year. I’d stop dreaming about it and actually make it happen. But with zero experience and no confidence, I struggled. I didn’t know where to start. I stayed home with my kids for 8 years and now felt like I was totally out of the loop and out of my league. So I distracted myself as many of us do, with mundane tasks like laundry, dishes and running errands, leaving no room for what I actually wanted to do. 

This got me nowhere. I needed to take some sort of action. Enter the self-help gurus like Mel Robbins, Marie Forleo, and most recently Eric Thomas, (if you haven’t heard him speak, you need to). Mel Robbins breaks it down for those who find it extremely challenging to accomplish something (by “those” I mean me) and she says to start small. She’s absolutely right.

What I realized is that we have these big dreams and goals which are amazing but at the same time intimidating as hell. I wanted to become a writer. Ok great. Wait. There’s no magic fairy that just makes it happen? Oh. Right. Then resistance rears its ugly head and starts whispering in your ear, “What are you doing? This can’t happen for you. What will everyone think?” And I let it stop me for a long time before I finally had enough and decided to do it anyway. 

So I broke it down into smaller steps. I started with LinkedIn. I looked at my profile, updated and polished it. Then, I searched for writing opportunities online, a place where I could consistently develop the craft, enter Medium. Once I got some momentum I kept going, making it a daily, morning routine. I turned to Squarespace to get going on my blog which I had been mulling over for get this, eight years. That’s right. Since the birth of my son, eight years ago, I talked about starting a blog. I had ideas, took a few pictures and wrote a post or two. And then, nothing.

The hard truth is because I kept making excuses. That’s how it always goes, right? Granted, I was elbow deep in baby food, blowouts, and little to no sleep. I was in survival mode those first couple of years. But then gradually it got easier and I felt human again instead of the walking dead. But I kept putting off what I really wanted. Kept making excuses. Running errands and cleaning the house. I focused on my son and being a good parent which I don’t regret but I didn’t make my ambitions a priority. I didn’t even put them on my to-do list at all. So nothing happened. If you don’t prioritize your dreams, they’ll stay locked away. It’s up to us to act on them. 

All these years later, and I’m finally taking action. I’m finally doing instead of thinking. I’m finally acting instead of waiting for the perfect time or until I feel “ready.” You’ll never feel ready. But you gotta start somewhere. One little step. One small action that isn’t daunting but doable. Tomorrow, I’ll sit and write again because after you start, you have to keep going.