Stop Waiting For The "Right Time"

This applies to many things in life, so you can take the end of that sentence and add whatever makes sense for you in your life right now. Maybe it's "Stop Waiting For The 'Right Time'...

To make a change.

To quit your job.

To break up.

To start that hobby you've been thinking about.

Whatever it is, we can perform enough mental gymnastics in our minds to talk ourselves out of anything. And we tend to do it when we're scared.

Scared of what people will think, scared of being uncomfortable, scared of...success?? That can absolutely happen, too.

But the only thing that's REALLY stopping you, is you.

When I talk to someone new, whether it be a client or even a friend, it's the same thing every time:

Them: No I can't do it because of my job.

Me: Well, it's YOUR job, isn't it? 

Them: It's my finances.

Me: Well, it's YOUR finances. 

You see my point. I'd like to add that I don't actually talk to my friends or clients like this, but ultimately this is where we land. We choose our lives, for the most part.

Now, I'm not saying there aren't extenuating circumstances that prevent people from doing certain things, but more often than not, these circumstances start with you. 

It takes guts to make a change, and depending on how big of a change, it also takes some level of planning. For example, if you're seriously thinking about quitting your job, saving up enough so you know exactly how many months you can sustain yourself before having to cave and go find another job, is the wise thing to do.

And if the change isn't something huge like quitting your job, then take some baby steps towards it. For me, I'm usually a baby steps kind of person, but the thing that often derails people from baby steps, is the time it allows you to analyze (or in my case, overanalyze) the results thus far. Sometimes you will end up cutting something amazing really short because you just didn't give it enough time. You gave the fear and the doubt too much time to sink in.

This happened to me with my new IG handle that I started a few months ago, for my consulting/social media work (@themisfitcreatives). I thought I was going to crush it and had a whole strategy planned, but then life happened, the podcast (that is no longer) was taking up so much of my time (and also not doing as well as I'd hoped) so I just started to take too far of a step back and looked at everything with a wide angled lens.

I was tired and frustrated, so I just said "why bother?" and I stopped posting. It's been literal months since I've done a post on there (in-feed). I'm going to change that, but I know myself, and it won't take too many “bad” posts before I "reevaluate" everything again.

It's a bad cycle and the reason I bring it up is because... had I done that when I first started, I would have never gotten to where I am today. Not that my life is SO over the top incredible or I'm so rich, but I work for myself, am pretty successful, and have had quite a few amazing experiences that I know wouldn't have come my way had it not been for my creative journey with blogging and social media. I was writing a lot of drivel and posting garbage for a LONG time before I found my footing with this stuff.

If you're going to start something new, give yourself the grace to make mistakes. No one gets it right the first time.

I STILL question what I'm doing on here because it's an ever-evolving practice in creativity.

If you look at my photos from back in the day, they're some of the worst things I've ever seen in my life. But as I practiced, I got better. And I wasn't even intentionally practicing. I was just observing...taking it all in and learning as I go. I'm self taught and I still know that at the end of the day, there are MANY other photographers out there who are better than I am, but it's not about finding the best photographer anymore. It's about finding someone who gets what you're doing, where you're going, and wants to help you get there. 

The most beautiful photograph in the world is not going to get you noticed, but showing up and being consistent will. 

So I guess take this as your sign to stop overthinking every damn thing and just DO the damn thing. Whatever it may be. People have the memory of a goldfish these days, the only one accounting for your "failures" is you.

And, don't forget that failure is the result, not the cause. A lot of times, we fail because we don't actually try hard enough. And even if we do try hard enough, sometimes it's just not the right fit and you have to accept the failure as a lesson and move forward.

Failing is not the end of the world, if anything, it can be the start to a better world.