Why You Can’t Wait Till You’re Not Scared Anymore

Even among people who are into personal growth and who have the courage to set big goals for themselves, it’s unfortunately common to put things off because they’re not “ready”.

We are all prone to thinking that our future selves are somehow magically much more capable of doing things than we are, and that our lives will somehow change to accommodate the changes we know we need to make.

While you of course do constantly learn and grow, and I’m sure you will be more capable of doing various things in the future, you can’t afford to put things off into the distant future. You can’t know what knowledge and skills you’ll have in the future, and you can’t really learn life skills without taking chances and daring to try new things.

It’s very natural to wait for a “better time”, when you are comfortable, confident, and magically know how to do everything, but of course you already know that there is no such time. And even if there was, you’d be like 80 by that point.

The real reason you put things off is that you are scared to take chances and do things when you don’t quite know in advance what is the right way to do them. If you want to make big changes in your life, you need to start living differently.

Ask yourself what you are afraid of

First of all, you need to ask yourself what exactly you are afraid of. It’s a good idea to take a pen and paper and write down all the things that worry you, even just a little bit. What do you think could go wrong?

Some of your fears might not even make much sense when you see them on paper, and you might have fears and worries you didn’t even realize you had.

Come up with solutions

After listing all the possible outcomes that worry you, it’s time to come up with some solutions.

Go through your list and come up with at least one solution to every problem. The solutions don’t even need to make much sense, your brain just needs answers to stop worrying.

If you’re afraid that you will run out of money after moving to your dream city, come up with a plan to make some extra money or how you can move to a cheaper city if you need to.

And if you are worried everyone you know will laugh at you for trying to become an author or become a digital nomad, or whatever you have in mind, just plan what you will say to them in case things don’t take off right away.

you will always be scared of something

One thing to keep in mind is that life is full of surprises and things can always go wrong. In other words, there’s always something to be scared of.

It makes little sense to wait for the day when you have no fears or doubts because that day will likely never come.

Even the happiest and most successful people have their worries. But what they don’t do is let those feelings dictate their lives.

You need to stop giving your fears too much power. You can take action and go after your dreams even when you feel a little scared or aren’t quite sure what you are supposed to be doing.

Fear is not real

This is something I wish everyone would learn because understanding it will change your life. It definitely changed mine.

The thing is, the feeling of fear doesn’t mean that there is something to be concerned about.

You might be super worried about some strange symptoms you’ve been having or perhaps you’re worried you might get fired. But if you haven’t been diagnosed with anything serious and you still have a job, nothing bad has actually happened.

Just because you don’t know the reason for your symptoms or what your boss thinks about you, doesn’t mean that there’s something to worry about. You just don’t have the answers yet.

Back when I was entangled in my ex-boyfriend’s extremely difficult immigration process, I used to read all the news articles I could find about immigration policies, people’s attitudes towards immigrants, and whether right wing parties were gaining ground.

But then I started asking myself whether something had changed after reading the article. Had I learned something new? Had I found information that was directly connected to our case?

The answer was always no. Fear is just a feeling, and it has a habit of being quite irrational.

Things are easier than you think

One unescapable fact about doing something you’ve never done before is that you have to learn a lot of new things.

Daunting as it may sound, you’ll often notice that once you just get started, things aren’t quite as difficult as you thought and you can learn a lot in a relatively short time.

Of course, big goals take a lot of time and effort to reach, but what you really need is consistency, not some sort of hidden talent that will magically make everything a breeze.

Dare to start even if you don’t feel ready. It’ll take you towards your goal much faster than twiddling your thumbs and waiting for a miracle.

Are you still waiting?

I hope this article encourages you to take at least one step towards your goals today. You really need to stop being afraid of life and take action.

I can’t tell you that every single day will be easy, but that’s ok. You can handle the tough days, too. You just need to believe in yourself even when you don’t quite know what you’re supposed to do. You’ll figure it all out, one step at a time.

Now, I want you to choose one thing that you want to do or achieve in your life, and that you have been putting off because you were afraid you weren’t good enough or that the time wasn’t right. It can be big or small, as long as it matters to you.

Then, you come up with a plan. It needs to be detailed and actionable. Depending on your goal, you might need to do a lot of work, but what matters the most is that you are consistent. Don’t give up just because you don’t see results right away and don’t choose the more comfortable option of procrastinating when you have things to do.

Eventually, little by little, you’ll start seeing progress.

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