“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Author H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Here’s something I caught myself saying too often for a long time, “I’ll do X when…” as if I was waiting for the perfect time, the perfect circumstances, the perfect me to emerge to do something.
Every once in a while I still find myself in that headspace. Habits are hard to break and they are annoyingly good at re-emerging just when we thought we’d changed them for good. Thankfully I catch myself when this happens now. As soon as this thought crosses my mind, I give myself a talking to.
“Honey,” I say to myself, “Perfection isn’t on its way. Not today. Not ever. Do it. Or don’t. But stop waiting. Just choose.”
Then I laugh and get on with it, or decide not to.
I’ve got a little list of things I’ve been waiting to do. Slowly but surely, I’m getting them done or at least giving them my best shot.
Three fun things I did recently:
1.) I applied to be an independent content creator for NASA. It was quite the administrative web to navigate but I did it and put in my application just before the deadline.
2.) I submitted a vulnerable piece of writing for the Modern Love column in The New York Times.
3.) I put in my application to be a volunteer at the 2028 Olympics.
Will any of this work out? Maybe, maybe not! But you know what? I’ll always be glad I shot my shot!
Christa Avampato 