Whispering Wyrd

I’ve touched on this subject before, but recently my wife and I were talking about it again. During that conversation she suggested I dedicate an entire post to it, so here it is.

We were talking about how important it is not to wait too long to do the things you truly want to do. Over the years we’ve both known a lot people who talked on and on about their dreams. They wanted to move somewhere new, start a business, write a book, learn a new skill, travel, or make some other big change in their lives. They talked about these dreams for years, sometimes decades. Unfortunately, a lot of them never actually did any of them.

Some got too old or too sick. Others passed away before they ever took the chance. Either way, the result was the same. The dream remained just a dream and nothing more.

This life is unrepeatable. We don’t get practice runs and we don’t get to go back and start over. We have this one precious life and whatever time we have left to us.

I knew a man who wanted to move to the Pacific Northwest more than anything. Every year he would visit there without fail. Every year he would come back talking about the beauty, the weather, the forests, and sometimes even houses he had looked at. He would tell everyone that someday he was going to make the move. But someday never came.

Then serious health problems set in for him. Before long he passed away in the very place he had spent decades wanting to leave. His story isn’t unique at all.

Most of us have known somebody who talked and talked about a dream but never took even the first real step toward making it happen. A lot of times it wasn’t because they didn’t have the opportunity. More often it was fear. Fear of change, fear of failure, fear of making the wrong decision. Fear of the unknown.

I’ve definitely noticed a thing over the years. People can be absolutely miserable in their current circumstances and yet still cling to them because they are familiar. The misery they know feels safer than the uncertainty they don’t know.

When an opportunity for change appears, they hesitate. They wait for a better time, more certainty, more money, more confidence, or more reassurance. Then one day they look back and realize the opportunity is gone, never to return.

I’ve done enough looking backward in my life to know that regret is too heavy a thing to carry. That’s one reason I’m so grateful my wife and I made the decisions we did. We moved to New Mexico, we bought our new home, and we embraced change even though it was scary and uncertain.

This isn’t me saying, “Hey, look what I’ve accomplished!” Not at all. It’s gratitude.

I know what my life was like before. I know how utterly miserable I was. I know I likely would still be trapped in active addiction if I had I stayed in Texas. The changes we made weren’t always easy, but they gave me a chance at a different life. And looking back now, I am profoundly grateful we took that chance instead of letting it pass into oblivion.

So if there’s something you’ve always wanted to do, let me ask you a question… what are you waiting for? It’s not a rhetorical question. Seriously. What, exactly, are you waiting for? If the opportunity came today, would you take it? Or would fear, uncertainty, and overthinking convince you to wait a little longer?

Sometimes waiting is smart and sometimes patience is necessary. But sometimes waiting is nothing but fear wearing a disguise. You don’t have to take some giant leap. Sometimes all that’s needed is just one small step in the direction of the life you want.

Just don’t wait so long that one day all that’s left is wondering what might have been.

Amituofo
~Buck