Just Go

-by Matt Leedham

Twenty-four hours ago, I departed for Seoul, South Korea with my beautiful wife and in-laws. We bought our plane tickets for this trip in December of 2010. We have been slowly planning this three-week excursion for 10 months. The four days prior to departing were filled with tons of to-do’s, chores, errands, and tying up loose ends. Packing was an epic adventure of guessing what I will need in an environment and climate that I cannot accurately predict.

After all of this planning and preparing and talking about it, I still didn’t feel prepared. I thought, “I must be forgetting something.” Or, “what have I not thought of?” Sometimes, I would respond with, “Ah! The power adapter for our electronics! I knew I was forgetting something.” This, of course, only confirmed my doubt that I was not prepared enough.

Eventually, the time comes. You must go. The flight crew (and the 251 other passengers) will not wait for us if we are late. Callously, they will leave us behind, westward bound without much consideration, if we are just a moment late. So, you force yourself to go. You ease your anxiety by telling yourself that if you forget anything, you can always buy it at your destination.

And if you’re like me, the result of all of this is usually the same. Everything turns out to be JUST FINE!

Don’t get me wrong. My planning and thinking about what I’ll need likely saved me a few heartaches. But in general, it won’t affect how amazing my trip will be if I forget my floss.

So, what are you waiting on in life? What have you been planning and planning, and thinking about and thinking about? What are you postponing because you don’t think you’re quite ready yet?

I urge you to JUST GO! Just start moving…begin the journey. Trust yourself that you will figure it out along the way. Trust that you have access to resources and people that will help you. In fact, they will be more likely to help you if you are on your way. After all, everyone can talk…not as many people DO.