Most men don’t get stuck because the challenge is too big. We get stuck because we keep waiting: For the perfect moment, for the fear to go away, or until the risk feels small.
Waiting, however, is not neutral. When we don’t make a decision, it will be made by someone or something else: be it life, other people, or circumstances. And whether we like it or not, that’s a decision too, and it brings consequences that we will have to face.
The leap is coming, and it doesn’t care if we planned for it or if we didn’t.
When we’re standing in a burning forest, and instead of walking out, we’re looking for ways to get less uncomfortable in the heat, we’re staying in a dangerous limbo. And that limbo has a hidden cost: Fear.
Fear is a thief of energy. When we give it our focus, it eats our spirit until all we have left is the fear itself. The brain loops, the body tenses, and every bit of effort we could put toward building the life we want gets hijacked by the fear of what could go wrong with that life.
We can’t use that same energy to both stay afraid and take action. A moment comes when we need to make a choice: am I going to stay scared, or am I going to do something about it?
We have to take the leap.
“What Can I Actually Do?”
Big goals and big problems can feel overwhelming, but most of the time, we don’t need the perfect master plan. We just need the next right move. Ask yourself: What’s the best action I can take right now to move me forward? Not tomorrow. Not when it’s convenient. Right now.
It might just be a phone call. A conversation. Reaching out. Booking that ticket. Saying yes, or finally saying no.
The only way out of limbo is movement; action. Keep it simple, don’t push yourself into changing your whole life with your next action, because you won’t, and it will only create more frustration and fear.
Be the Cliff, Not the Ocean
The ocean reacts. It’s moved by every storm. The cliff stands steady, always.
Life will throw waves, some bigger than we think we can handle, but if we stay anchored in who we are and what matters to us, the waves stop running the show. We do.
Six months from now, you’ll probably look back at this moment and wonder: What was I so afraid of? That’s the gift of action: It turns what felt like a wall into a memory.
You’ve Done This Before
Remember, this isn’t your first time facing something hard. It’s not your first rodeo, and it won’t be your last. You’ve already made leaps. You’ve already been through fires and come out the other side.
The only constant in every single problem you’ve had in your life is that all of them are behind you. You’ve pulled through every one of them, so what’s another problem in the long run?
The man you become through this will stay with you forever.
Fear can’t do that for you. Hesitation can’t do that for you. Only action can.
So take the bull by the horns.
Step open-hearted into the new, into what’s next.
Take the plunge, and meet who you are after taking it.