I felt like I was a fool. With every step I took forward, I looked back twice. Nothing’s changed. Though, I don’t look back much.
It’s hard.
If you’ve tried to do something BIG, or even inched a foot ahead, then you know that doing something is difficult. No matter what you do. Your doubts can cripple you and clasp you.
Doubts are like quicksand. When you flutter your feet and beat your hands, it sucks you faster.
That’s what happens
I don’t know what you had tried – but I know what happens. It happened to me. I’ve seen it happen to people.
Start a business, make a career choice, create art, or take a little step – your doubts sting you the moment you dare to be bigger than you are.
The negative voices echo louder. The future concerns you. Your doubts can make you see yourself as a fool, and even make you quit.
Doubts are fatal.
They belittle your dreams, fracture your self-esteem, and laugh hard at the dreamer in you.
Then your doubts make bad things happen
You see yourself as a loser. You question the decisions you make. “Should I quit?” “Am I useless?” … you start talking to yourself. Your doubts hold a poisonous grip on you that doesn’t let you go easily.
If you’re courageous enough, you’ll free yourself.
If you’re doubtful, you’ll stagger a lot.
Most of us … stagger.
Doubts stick, and never go away
To be honest, it’s good to know this.
We live with a thought that our doubts will vanish someday … they don’t. You shouldn’t try to get rid of them, either.
You can’t wash away the mess scribbled in your head. It stays there. The imaginary fog in your head remains persistent, no matter how far you go.
You don’t work on dreams when you get rid of your doubts. Rather, your work because you know your doubts will keep bugging you anyway, and by learning to be alright with them.
It’s like the ugly rock song your neighbour plays. You ignore it.
Doubts every dreamer has (and their truthful answers)
Here’s a list of genuine doubts you may come across while working on your dreams or passions, and reasonable explanations for them.
1. Will I succeed?
You wouldn’t know unless you try.
You work and you keep hustling, until success arrives. So maybe, it’s rather dependent upon the effort you put in. You know it. What does your success demand? Do it.
And that doesn’t mean you won’t fail.
But you can always find out.
Failure isn’t an evil, either.
2. What if I fail?
The worst case scenario is that you’d die.
But that’s rare.
In most cases, you lose respect, people judge you, and you feel dismayed. The good side? You’ll learn your lessons and move a bit closer to success than before.
3. Am I good enough?
Doesn’t matter.
If you’re good, you’ll still need to work.
If you’re bad, you can always get better.
For now, start wherever you are. All people suck when they start. They improve when they try. There are never born geniuses. This is the only truth you need to know.
4. Am I aiming too high?
Maybe not.
Trying doesn’t harm.
You were born in a background that taught you to live within limits, so it’s hard for you to digest your success. So aiming high looks impractical, and impossible. It gives you chills.
Still, step beyond the boundaries you’re in – that’s how you grow. That’s how everyone grows.
5. Is it really possible?
“No.”
“Yes.”
These words don’t even matter.
You can only play your part and see what comes on your way. You cannot control the outcomes. But you can try.
So, is it possible? Keep going and you’ll know soon.
6. Is it too tough?
What difference does it make?
When you’re willing to do something, you learn, gradually. You learn to deal with what’s tough. If your work is easy, good.
You can quit, or find alternative ways to work on your passion as well. You’re always free to do what’s right for you. Nothing makes you a loser, except not trying.
So try.
7. Am I finding an escape?
Are you doing something because you want to avoid other unpleasant things in life?
Are you choosing the easier route to avoid a failure?
Such doubts strike you when you choose an unconventional path, because all your life you were taught to be practical. There were some firm rules to success. When your actions don’t match with those rules, you feel like you’re finding an escape.
If you’re doing something right, the way it’s supposed to be done, then you need not worry much.
8. Am I faking my passions?
You need to be honest about this.
Are you doing something because you’re motivated by certain materialistic gains, and because everyone else is doing it? Or because you genuinely love doing what you do?
You shouldn’t lay the foundation of your dreams and passions on the lies you tell to yourself – because lies die someday.
If you can do something for the love of doing it, then you barely need to know anything else. Do what makes you happy.
9. Do you really have a passion or are you … pretending to have one?
You’re a human.
Which means, you can’t do a single thing forever. Almost.
You get tired. You lose interest. You find better activities to do. You go with the flow.
So there’s no permanent passion – only love for work.
If you do an activity, regardless of the outcomes you get out of it, and love every moment you spend doing it, then you already have a genuine passion.
You aren’t pretending.
10. How would I succeed?
All paths are different.
You’ll find yours.
For now, what may concern is the “How?” part. Figure that out. There are always some realistic ways to work on your passion.
Nobody sees the whole path at once. People just keep taking steps with hope in their hearts.
11. What should I do if I can’t achieve my dream?
That’s the practical side.
Maybe, you’ll fail.
If you can’t achieve your dream, or wish to quit, or can’t go on anymore, then choose something that’s closest to your dream. Do what’s similar to what you love.
It’s not about what you can do, or the work you can put in, but rather about finding a way to keep going. Holding on to your passion, when all else seems impossible.
12. Is it worth the effort?
Why are you doing all this, anyway?
At some stage, you may think that your dreams are useless. It gets harder to hold on. You stop making sense to yourself.
Be at peace.
Ask yourself, “Has my journey been worth the joy?” Let go, or hold on – you decide. You’re always free.
There’s a cure
You become a victim to your doubts when you don’t take steps towards your dreams.
That’s because it’s easier to knock you down when you’re new and vulnerable.
Though, the more you work, the more strengthened your beliefs become. Spend enough time preparing yourself and your trust, after which your doubts don’t affect you anymore.
After this, you develop an unshakeable self-esteem that backs you up, because you become capable of deciding what’s right for you.
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