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The Stars Will Never Align. Don’t Wait to Start.

As multipotentialites, we often find ourselves looking forward to the next thing we want to accomplish, learn or try. If you frequently put your next big (or small) thing on a high shelf until all conditions are ideal, you're probably missing out.By D.J. Billings

Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

Earl Nightingale

Did you keep track of how much time passed while you read that quote? I’m guessing you didn’t, because I’m assuming you’re normal. Anyway time did pass and whether it was a few seconds, or a minute because you reread it a few times, we are now in the future.

It’s said that time waits for no one, but sometimes we find ourselves waiting for time. It’s like there’s a bunch of ducks  in our minds, and we’re waiting for them to all line up before we get up and go do that big thing we’ve been wanting to do.

I do this on a fairly regular basis. In fact, I recently found myself waiting for time (and everything else) to be just right before I got off my duff and hit the bricks. Literally.

Running away from running

Many years ago, I was a regular runner. Our family lived in Washington, DC where the narrow streets and beautiful scenery were perfect for long, early morning runs. After my wife had a baby and we made a cross-country move, I got out of the habit.

My running shoes were crushed in the back of the closet behind keepsake boxes, out of sight and out of mind. After a dozen years of abstinence, I decided that it was time to get back on the road. I missed the dopamine, sure, but I also missed the feeling of accomplishment and the bonus benefit of heart health.

Before dusting off my shoes, I naturally decided that I would start running again when our finances were better.

If that sentence threw you, I get it. It makes no sense. What does one have to do with the other? I had decent enough shoes. I wasn’t confined under house arrest with an ankle monitor. In reality, there was nothing materially standing in my way of pounding the pavement and manufacturing all those wonderful mood-lifting brain chemicals. I had created my own nonsensical diversion.

Instead of running, I threw myself into work. On some level, I figured that the harder I hustled, the faster I would get to a place where I “could” start running again. The thing is, I had it all backwards. I wasted a lot of time being stressed out and waiting until circumstances were just perfect. As you can probably guess, that perfection never arrived.

Baby steps

One day, I decided that I had been cooped up at home too long and went for a walk. As I walked, I thought about my financial situation. Even though it wasn’t improving quickly, my hustling was bearing some fruit. When I got home, I felt a little better about my situation. Less stressed. I started making regular walks a part of my life. The more I did it, the more I realized that putting off running until my money situation was fixed was making me more stressed and less effective at solving my problems.

So I actually started running again. Sure, I started slow. My body was a dozen years older, and took some time to agree that we should be moving like that on purpose. The regular practice of running helped me get to a mental place where I could take a birds-eye view of my financial issues. I realized that these struggles were going to be around for a while, and gave myself permission to do the things I want to do in the meantime.

The moral here is not that we should all start running – I wouldn’t do that to you. As multipods, we often find ourselves looking forward to the next thing we want to accomplish, learn or simply try. If you’re like me, you frequently put that next thing on a high shelf until all conditions are copasetic. I’m here to break it to you, gently, that that will never happen. The stars won’t align before you take any action.

Just dip your toe in

What if, instead of putting that thing away completely, you could break it off into little chunks? For example, say you’d like to live as an ex-pat in Croatia. The problem is, you don’t have any contacts there, you don’t speak a lick of Croatian, and you’re upside-down on your mortgage. Rather than tabling your emigration plan until those things resolve themselves (they never will), take some baby steps toward your thing.

Why not dip your toe in the big pond that is Twitter and meet some Croatian ex-pats? Or any ex-pats. Or someone named Pat. The point is, while you’re waiting around for the perfect conditions to allow you to say Dovidenja to your current country, you could immerse yourself in All Things Croatian. The time is going to pass anyway.

It’s possible that while you’re taking those baby steps into your next thing, you’ll discover that maybe you’re not so ga-ga over the idea anymore. That’s okay. In fact, it’s common for multipotentialites to experience that feeling. It comes with the territory. If you start feeling uninspired about your big next thing, you could also put it to the side for a while. There will be another next thing right around the corner, or perhaps already queued up and ready for you to explore.

But if you are still passionate about your new thing, don’t let time pass while you wait on a park bench for the perfect conditions to walk by. I’ll leave you with a quote by Haruki Murakami:

“Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting.“

Actually, while appropriate, I can’t leave you with that. How about something a little more uplifting:

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

Marthe Troly-Curtin, Phrynette Married

Your Turn

Is there a fabulous adventure, dream project, or simple daily practice you’ve been putting off starting? What are the stories you tell yourself to delay getting started?

adventure beginner milestone new things perfectionism procrastination self-sabotage


D.J. Billings (they/them) is a writer, illustrator and WordPress geek. D.J. loves to tell stories and has spent a lifetime expressing them visually through books, animation, and websites. Their work has been seen in Wired, Highlights, Blue’s Clues, and too many cocktail napkins to count. D.J. is a WordPress website consultant and many, many other things. They live with their wife and kids in Los Angeles and love tinkering with their 1966 VW Beetle.

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  1. Rebekah Nemethy says

    Wow… as I was reading all of my ridiculous excuses popped up. I’ll take that singing course when I can commit to a daily practice for 30 consecutive days. WTF? You haven’t even heard the best part. I warm up for a recording session by singing my favorite songs for 20 minutes, and I already do this 4-5 times per week. Is that self sabotage or what?

    Anyway, thank you for this, D.J.! This just what I needed to read to recognize my own silliness and get started. Oh, and you gave me more than a few soul-healing laughs, too. Priceless <3

    Reply
    • DJ says

      Thanks, Rebekah! I hear you on the self-sabotage. There should be some kind of cosmic alarm that goes off when we get in our own way. Like maybe a booming voice from above, or an air horn.

      Reply
  2. Steph Enyeart says

    I think what I struggle with most in starting a new project or thing to try is figuring out what it will replace. I know time is made and we can’t wait to have the time, but realistically there’s only so much I can fit in a day. So navigating what to prioritize during the time I have is my biggest issue!

    Reply
    • DJ says

      That’s really interesting, Steph. As someone who is always finding something new to get into, that comes up a lot for me, too. I have a lot of projects that are waiting on the sidelines because realistically I can’t do everything. I’m trying to take more time to think about those things and be honest with myself about whether I’m not starting them because I’m juggling too many other priorities, or if I’m getting in my own way about it.

      Reply
  3. Kuldeep says

    Thank you so much for this amazing read!
    I am an engineer from India, juggling between multiple things daily. I know, I can handle and excel in all of these even more.
    But, I get recommendations by the people around to focus on single-tasking.
    I think, I have landed in the right house here.

    Thank you DJ 🙂

    Reply
    • DJ says

      Thank you, Kuldeep! Welcome to the community. 🙂

      Reply
  4. Anita says

    Really appreciate your gentleness insights here. When I recognize & accept that my wanting to do everything “now” is my enthusiastic creativity there’s a huge release within me. So when I hear all these great ideas in my brain, I’m usually less critical (of me). Much more supportive of my natural ways of Being! Ya! Gradually learning from others how to be realistic about what/how I prioritize my days & weeks.
    Blessings all around Dear Ones,

    Reply

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