Ready Isn't a Feeling

I have never felt fully ready for anything in my life. Ever.

I wasn’t ready to leave elementary school; I wasn’t ready to make presentations to my classes in high school. I wasn’t ready to get clean and sober. I wasn’t ready to have a baby, let alone two. I wasn’t ready to own a company; I wasn’t ready to become an author…

There hasn’t been a single time when I was trying to do something meaningful and felt completely prepared for it.

Every time, though, there has been fear. Anxiety. Worry. Feelings that run rampant.

And I think that’s pretty normal.

Most of us feel some sense of terror or uneasiness around the thought, and especially the action, of doing something new or unfamiliar. Certainly so, when that ‘something new’ brings along the possibility of rejection in any form.

Feeling nervous is nothing to be ashamed of, it’s a perfectly valid part of being human.

Giving in to those nerves and waiting to feel ready, means that you’ll be waiting forever.

So, herein lies the tough part – you have to decide.

Decide that you're ready even if your feelings aren't saying that.

There is a widely used motivational saying that has stuck with me for many years.

“You’ll never feel ready because ready isn’t a feeling, it’s a decision.”

Now, as a child, you won’t feel ready nor will you decide you’re ready, because some things just have to happen when they have to happen. But as an adult, the course of your life lies completely in your own hands.

Are you going to continue living your life exactly the way it is right now, or are you willing to take the risks necessary to change your current circumstances? Only you can make that decision for yourself.

Whether you’re visiting a new place for the first time or putting yourself out there in a whole new way, if you wait to feel ready, you won’t achieve the goal.

I don’t think the most incredible figure skaters or gymnasts waited to enter competitions until they had every single move perfected. I don’t believe artists wait to share their creations with the world until they have found every medium they enjoy. I don’t think the brilliant scholars throughout the ages waited until they called themselves a master before releasing their studies and findings.

I think every one of those humans found something they loved and went for it with their whole heart.

That is what we must do.

Chase our desires with reckless abandon.

We must put aside the fear of rejection by remembering that everything is subjective. What one person doesn’t enjoy, another person will. That is why there are so many genres of music, and why one person can despise a song while another becomes obsessed with it.

Cast away the self-doubt by recalling how generations and generations of humans all fell in love so that one day you could be created for the purpose of following what sets your soul ablaze. How Majickal and majestic is that?!

Fight against the anxiety of imposter syndrome by reminding yourself that everyone has to start somewhere.

Humanity deserves the brilliance and beauty that YOU have to offer it. Not a single other person on the planet views the Earth in the same way you do. You see it, hear it, smell it, experience it in a unique way. The passions that you have deserve to be pursued and the dreams you’ve always dreamt of deserve to be chased.

Nobody is coming to save you or make the life of your dreams come to fruition.

So, ask yourself, how badly do you actually want it, the life of your dreams?

Don’t wait until you feel ready.

Decide you’re ready for more.

And then go get it.

I’m rooting for you!!!

Talk soon,

Kloveyoubye!