“Decide that you want it more than you’re afraid of it” – Bill Cosby
Ever have something that you wanted so very badly, but it involved a risk and you just couldn’t quite get up the nerve?
It’s not going to be handed to you on a silver platter or by the guy from Publisher’s Clearing House.
If you want something, you have to work for it.
Yes, I’m listening to what I’m saying.
No, I’m not exactly where I want to be professionally. Some of it is circumstantial. Most of it is because of choices I’ve made.
I can’t blame anyone else for not having my dream job, or house, or anything else.
Oh sure, I’ve got a boxcar full of emotional baggage that I could lay at the feet of people who have derailed me, tried to hold me down, or sent me down a wrong path. But what good would that do?
If I have any regrets it’s only that it took me until this age to be able to say “I’m going to do this, either help me, or get out of my way.”
Being old and losing your filters does have certain advantages.
I’ve got some decisions coming up. Some will require some big steps. Perhaps a leap of faith.
I don’t do heights. It’s a totally irrational fear, but also very real. While I have been off of a high dive when I was much younger, and made a much smaller splash, it’s not something I’m likely to do again.
But I don’t want to jump off a high dive, so it doesn’t matter that I’d be afraid to climb up there.
What I want is to be writing professionally full-time. I’m no longer afraid to pursue that.
What about you? What is it that you really want? What’s holding you back?
Legendary announcer Don Pardo died this week at the age of 96. His career spanned more than 70 years and he worked well up into his 90s. As a child, I heard him announcing The Match Game and The Price is Right. When he started announcing for Saturday Night Live, he was older than I am now.
I want to go out like that. Doing what I love until I’m absolutely no longer able.
I may not live another 40 years to die at 96, so I need to get busy.
I’ve got a keyboard, and I’m not afraid to use it.
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