Choose to Take the Journey

I meant to start my self-help blog earlier, but having been wounded by the double-edged sword of perfectionism, I put it off for over a year. I wanted to wait until my life was more “together.” Until I became rich enough to live in a castle overlooking the ocean. Until I could bench press a small sedan. Until I had convinced Katy Perry to marry me. Basically, I was waiting for my life to be so perfect that I became unassailable to criticism. Fortunately, I stopped waiting.

I love to write. The joy it brings me is hard to describe. It feels similar to seeing the woman you love smile at you, or standing on the rooftop of a tall building and gazing down at the pedestrians. It makes me feel full to the core. I’ll never forget the feeling I had after writing my first page. I sat back, marveled at its genius, and breathed a sigh of relief. When I re-read it the next day, I was in shock. My jaw didn’t drop, but it sure did droop. In fact, my entire face drooped so much it felt like I was wearing a leather baseball mitt for a face. I remember the sinking feeling in my chest and the swirling feeling in my head.

It sucked!

It was the worst thing I had ever written. But I realized something very important that day. Nothing I wrote was ever going to be perfect. I was never going to be perfect. But hell, it was better than nothing. If you talk to people who are near death, most of them will tell you that you never really regret the things that you did in life. You only regret the things that you didn’t do. Conditions will never be ideal. The stars and the planets will never line up perfectly in your favor. There will always be circumstances that beg for improvement–your health, your financial situation, your living conditions, your romantic life. The list is never-ending and always changing. So stop waiting for something to happen. Stop waiting for all of the pieces of your life to magically fall into place. There will never be a “right time” to do anything. Perfection is about as elusive as trying to catch a snowflake while ice skating in a snowstorm. Even if you could, it would be gone as quickly as it came.

With regards to this blog, the only regret I have is not starting sooner. And so it is with everything. If you never start, life will never happen.