SINCE our very childhood ages, we are taught to wait. Wait, until you are prepared. Wait, until your confidence arrives like an invitation wait, until the time is right. Along the way, somehow, somewhere, patience silently converts into postponement, and caution comes dressed as wisdom. For most people, they believe they are standing still because of a lack of courage. Instead, in reality they are simply waiting for comfort. Life cannot be changed or transformed merely by desire. It is a given fact that just by wanting something we cannot move the needle, until and unless it is accompanied by motion or action. And this motion can be awkward, uncertain, uncomfortable, and everything that is synonymous with these terms here.

 

Yet, we continue to tell our own selves that one day we will feel “ready.” Being “ready” is not an end in itself, or a destination. Rather, it is more of a consequence of action. It is certainly not fear that holds us, as much as our intolerance for temporary discomfort. Since it feels more reasonable, hesitation actually thrives. It is often explained, justified, and at times, even applauded. Statements such as- “I need to be more prepared,” “This is not the right moment,” “I need more clarity,” etc. sound mature and measured, but lack avoidance mostly. Fear goes on to retain its authority only because hesitation seems intelligent. The truth simply is that clarity follows action, and not viceversa. It doesn’t seem glamorous, but truth rarely does, anyway. Nobody starts a fulfilling journey with complete assurance. The writer doesn’t submit knowing the write-up would be accepted. The entrepreneur does not launch knowing the market would respond anyway.

 

The activist, similarly, does not voice out his opinions knowing their words will be welcomed. They move anyway. Courage is not a permanent state, and the sooner we understand that, the better, Courage is also not something that one must possess endlessly. It is not a personality trait, or even a lifelong commitment. Courage is required only at the very beginning- once. Post that, momentum takes over. Once you act, the power of fear weakens, no matter how imperfect that is. But act anyway. Even if doubt doesn’t disappear, it does lose its grip. The unknown and the unchartered becomes navigable, not for the reason that it has been conquered, but because it has been entered. Fear depends on distance, that is, it actually thrives only when possibilities remain theoretical. The moment one steps ahead, fear has no choice, but to contend with reality, and reality is mostly less frightening than imagination, at all points of time. Most of the people you would meet are not afraid of failure, but instead fear of being seen trying. Try anyway. Trying does expose vulnerability and removes the safety of potential. The moment one begins, one risks discovering one’s limits. It also gives you the scope to discover your capacity to grow as well. There is an unspoken and unsaid cost to waiting that we do not acknowledge.

 

While we wait in life to get confidence, life very well continues without us. Seasons change, conversations move on, p o s - sibilities do not pause, relationships change, and so much more. The life we imagine does not disappear all of a sudden it very silently becomes someone else’s lived experienceone that they have walked on already. This should not be deconstructed as an argument for recklessness. Preparation commands a certain value, and so does thoughtfulness. Preparation without action is nothing but a rehearsal for a performance that would never happen. Progress has always been uncomfortable, because it requires us to leave the known and familiar, before the new and unchartered that feels safe. Growth demands that we operate without a certain set of guarantees. Similarly, transformation would want us to have greater faith in movement than certainty. We humans are often under the perception that once we feel confident, we would act.

 

The reality is quite differentconfidence is built steadily by surviving the very act by itself. Every step forward, no matter how small or negligible, teaches and reminds us that we are capable of navigating what is lined up to come into our lives next. Instead of being the fuel, confidence is the by-product in reality. The life we keep imagining for ourselves, does not ask us to forever be fearless, it asks us to begin before we are ready. The first step requires movement in the right direction, and not irreversible decisions, drama, or public declarations, which is mostly the case nowadays, unfortunately. A risk quietly taken. A draft written. A conversation begun. The moment we act while still we are unsure, the authoritativeness weakens. It no longer goes on to dictate our choices, but it instead becomes background noise. And, eventually, almost imperceptibly, you would realise that you are already living the life you once kept on postponing and procrastinating. Again, not because certainty dramatically arrived, but because we stopped waiting for it. Finally, we have taken the mantle upon our own hands. Thus, the saying by Swami Vivekananda- “Man is the Maker of His Own Destiny.”