#doingthedamnthing

Plopsy'd! Guilly's been making some excellent and legendary knits lately which has made it a lot easier to sell his crafts on Plopsy. He's not making the kind of simoleons one would make if they worked a steady 9-to-5 but he likes setting his own hours, exploring his creative freedom, and doing the damn thing by being his own boss.

as taylor swift herself once said: “this is me trying”. 

for a long time, i’ve told myself i’m not good enough. i’ve told myself i’m just not ready, and that someday far off in the future, when i am more ready, then i’ll do the thing. i’ve told myself i’m not ready to do pretty much everything i dream or even think about doing. not to model, not to act, not to write poetry, not to start a blog, not to start a podcast, not to go to that really good dance complex in the city with the really good dancers that totally inspire me but also simultaneously totally intimidate and scare me and feel too good for me to even show up to the same class as them. for a long time, the only answer i’ve ever given myself in the face of my dreams is: no. it’s too late. i’m too old. what would people think? do i really have the audacity to do a career change at my age, at twenty-five? the preposturous-ness. well, maybe someday. maybe someday when i feel more ready. i’ll just work on myself until i feel ready. and then, one day when i do feel that, and i just “know”, then i’ll start. 

but, i’m realizing something. all the people that we seem to call famous, all the people who we see as different from us, better than us, living in another world from us, with different dreams, different careers, different levels of sophistication and talent and beauty - the thing is, ironically, all of them are just like us. 

something one of my idols said that i’ve been thinking about lately puts this concept rather well. she said: “usually it’s not the people who are the most talented who end up being the most famous, and end up making their dreams come true. most often, it’s simply the people who have the audacity to try.”

and that is what i’ve realized. i’ve realized that there is never a perfect time to try. none of us are ever ready. in fact, most people who end up being wildly successful and doing things we type as “amazing”, “incredible!” or “revolutionary!” come back to us on our favorite sunday night podcast and say, “you know, if i ever would have known beforehand what it was really gonna be like if i’d started this [project, dream, life pursuit or endeavor], the thing is, i never would have started it in the first place”, followed by a chorus of knowing co-host chuckles. because THAT, my friends, is the truth. i hate to break it to you folks but ALL THE DAMN CLICHES ARE TRUE. period. and THAT in and of itself is even a cliche. 

well, damn. here we are. 

so, even though it might feeeeel easier said than done, here is both yours and my sign to JUST DO THE DAMN THING. JUST DO IT. NIKE DID NOT COPYRIGHT THAT PHRASE FOR SPORTS ALONE. 

go be an actor. go be a model. start a podcast with your friends. pick up your house plants and go be a dog-walker in whatever rich-ass city you think is calling to your heart right now, regardless if you have a job lined up or not. go try out for that play. go say hi and start talking to that person when you’re not even ready, when you think they are too cute for you or your anxiety thoughts are coming up with who-knows-what-else kinds of ridiculous and likely untrue stories. go buy a plane ticket right now and take a trip to baton rouge tomorrow. because, the goddamn truth is that - guess what?? nobody has been or WILL EVER BE ready for ANY damn thing!!!!!!! it is the BIGGEST LIE and cultural-cover story that these people who do these crazy amazing, successful, wondrous, money-making, dream-come-truing things are ready! they’re just not! they just freaking say: “i give no F’s” anymore, and they just DO THE DAMN THING. 

god. what a relief. 

my whole life up to this point, i believed that you have to be *ready* to do anything you want to do. and i still have those thoughts, all the time, even though now i totally logically know they’re not true. 

because, the secret that i’m slowly retraining myself to live by is that: it’s not in the being or “feeling ready” that we then start our dreams and make them all come true. it’s in the *starting* of our dreams that we then become ready, and THEN our dreams come true. ugh, here i go with another cliche again. honestly so cringe. but also, not at all. and that’s the thing. 

being cringe is okay. it’s necessary, even, to live a large and expansive, true and integrity-filled life. and to me, that’s the whole point of this thing, if there is any point at all. 

take it from the conditioned people-pleaser and perfectionist now FINALLY attempting to *actually* navigate her way through life instead of just surviving: every time i’ve done something brave in the service of expansion of self, every time i’ve done something i’ve been torn between doing or not doing, every time i’ve chosen something new and scary and foreign and unknown instead of going back to my old ways - i NEVER have regretted it. and 100%, every time i have done the opposite, i have regretted it immensely. 

but also, there’s no need to get too hard on yourself if you do do things you regret. even repeatedly. because, we are humans, and humans take a lot of repetition to learn things because that’s just the way we’re wired. you can’t overcome being human. you just need to work with it. 

so, we don’t need to overcome or necessarily avoid regret. regret is just part of the gig. and we need to just let ourselves feel it when we feel it. but, i think part of the gig also seems to be that, after we have learned through repetition that a certain type of decision seems to make us feel regretful, to then try and do some things that feel scary but that are new and possibly exciting and possibly even something that we want. and maybe, in taking baby steps like this, just maybe we will find ourselves experiencing more joy and expansiveness, more happiness, more possibility, more self-confidence and self-fulfillment in our lives. that to me is what it’s all about. 

so, here’s to making brave choices when we think we can’t. here’s to trying new things even though it scares us absolutely and completely to death and we avoid it at all costs. here’s to trying anything under the sun that calls to our curiosity and our hearts most definitely before we feel ready, in any way, shape or form. ‘cause, readiness was always just an illusion anyways. none of us are ever ready. which means...

all of us always are. 

love a million,