In a split second while you are walking down the street, the cartoon lightbulb flashes on. Your mind and heart eagerly agree that the idea is perfect, the timing is right, and you should do it. So, you sit down, take out your notebook, and jot down the idea so clear you see straight to the bottom. Looking up from your notebook you notice the sun has faded into the night sky. Can I really do this? The argument begins.
“You can’t do that because you don’t have the money.”
“Brain, that is not true. My savings account and investments have plenty of money to take that chance,” says the Heart.
“Please, you don’t even know where you would go. What is the plan?”
“The plan is simple, get a book as a resource and figure it out along the way.”
“Oh, yeah, learning from a book has always worked so well for you, huh?”
“We are already halfway there and we can turn the second half of this into a true time of learning. The lessons along the way will show us what we need to know in the future. Honestly, Brain, why shouldn’t we go?”
The silence is the brain digging deep, coming up with 10,000 excuses, but the reality is that, they are excuses. There is no valid reason holding yourself back besides the ones you allow yourself to believe.
“Brain, not knowing how to do something just means we need to start trying…”
Cutting the Heart off, “You want us to FAIL! What kind of evil person are you? You want us to fail and blow everything we have worked SO HARD for over the last 3 years!”
“I can see how you would think that, but it is not true. I do not want us to fail, I want us to try. Failing would be to not try or to fail without learning.”
What kind of stuff have you been smoking? Failing means we didn’t do what we set out to do. We are not going to do this because we will fail.”
“Brain, we have spent the last three years preparing for the ability to leave on a trip like this. Yes, we might lose traction in the industry. Yes, we might miss out on some money. However, we will expand our horizon and deepen our craft. It would only be two months!”
“Two months means two months without income. That means no investing. That means using our savings. That means no house in 3 years. That means no potential to think about starting a family. That means love gets put on the back burner for yet another year. That means you would not follow though on your goals for this year because you went off track.”
“Those goals were arbitrarily set to push ourselves into another realm. They can be adjusted and should be adjusted for an opportunity like this. Can we at least try Brain?”
“No!”
Silence falls between the Brain and the Heart. The insecurities are real. They both let silence soak their words.
“How do you know failure will happen, Brain?”
“I, I, I don’t. I just THINK it will happen, okay!”