Hi, Can You Move Out of Your Way, Please?

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “The only thing that’s standing between you and the finish line, is yourself.” I mean, you’ve probably heard it a bunch of times, but I’m going to throw that idea out a couple more times to really ingrain it in your minds. So allow me to begin by painting you an image of a typical case of “youblockingyourownway-itis” — a condition I know we’ve all suffered once or twice in our lifetime, or maybe still suffer to this day.

I have a dream and I want to live it. But I think that it might remain just that for the rest of my life — a dream. And I might be okay with that, because it just seems… impossible. It seems like I can’t do something like that, or maybe I shouldn’t because people might not necessarily like my dreams all that much. They might laugh at me. They might be mad at me. And they might even judge me.

Now, let’s take all the words I put in quotations replace them, add a couple more things to change the overall attitude of this unfortunately common thought process. And hopefully, by the end of this article, you’ll be doing it naturally whenever symptoms of “youblockingyourownway-itis” reappear:

I have a dream and I want to live it. But I think that it might remain just that for the rest of my life — a dream. And I’m not okay with that, because it seems… possible. It seems like I can do something like that, and maybe I should because people might like my dream, they might encourage and support me. Or they will laugh at me. They might be mad at me. They might even judge me — But who cares? It’s my dream, not theirs.

See what I did there? That second thought process is the one we all should be carrying, and it’s okay if you’ve delved into the first one more than the second — because we all do that. We all fall victim to our greatest enemy at times: Ourselves. We all experience fear. We all spend a lot of time speculating than actually doing. And that’s okay, but you and I both know the first thought process needs to go. I want you to pick it up and throw it out, because it’s holding you back.

God has given us all talents, talents that we can use to achieve our dreams, and be the best we can possibly be in this world. But do you know why a lot of people don’t go after those dreams? Because they’re afraid. They’re afraid they might fail. They’re afraid they might be rejected. But you know what? You can also be your greatest supporter for a change. You don’t have to block your own way, you can actually lead it. You can lead the way to that dream you’ve held onto for so long. You know that dream you pushed to side after “thinking” about it? Yeah that one.

Whether it’s to be writer for the New York Times, a sports commentator on ESPN, a NASCAR driver, a young entrepreneur, a YouTube star, an activist, etc. Whatever your dream is, I want you to say I can. Not: I can’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t, won’t. Because sweetheart, all you need to do is give yourself a chance. Try.

So, what’re you waiting for?
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image credit: Sive Å