It surprises me when I start a new business or project, that good people around me suggest it’s a brave move. I never feel brave. I feel excited. All I need is an idea, love for the change I’m determined to make, a sketchy plan and discipline. Not bravery.
Stopping things, though. That’s different. I need bravery when stopping things. Stopping things frightens me. If I’ll be judged. If I’ll be seen as a failure. If I’ll be regretful. Stopping things frightens me much more than starting things. This means I stay too long.
Increasingly, it helps to remind myself I’ll be dead after 1,000 months here. And that I’m in 672 months in right now. I don’t want to spend any of the 328 months I have left doing anything I don’t want to do.
So on I go. Moving faster when I remember the 1,000 month thing. Moving slower when I can’t find the bravery I need to stop. Tell you what though, learning how freeing it feels when I do stop is fuel too. Lovely feeling, that.