We all say that we are going to do things. It can be anything, from showering at night instead of the morning, to local experience things, traveling, exercising more or less depending on what you need or want, literally anything.
Yesterday, Sunday, I actually got myself together and went for a hike at Ojibway Provincial Park. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but I am notorious (to myself) for saying that I am going to do something, make all these plans, and then never actually do them or do anything, I’ll just work and watch Netflix (or something, even if not actually Netflix). I’ll do big stuff, like go to Ireland by myself, but I won’t do little things like go to the nearby beach, go to the provincial park, go to a concert, go see a movie, whatever. I don’t know why I don’t go do the thing, I know it would be fun, that I would enjoy it, but I don’t do it.
Well I have decided that I am going to do the things. They aren’t fancy, they aren’t crazy expensive, but we are going to do them, whether I have company or not.
We shouldn’t let our lives pass us by while we wait for company.
So figure out what it is that you have been wanting to do, go to that coffee shop you have been meaning to try, start that podcast, apply for a new job if you have been thinking about it for a long time.
Do the thing.
And if doing the thing seems overwhelming, what is the first step to doing the big thing?
For example, if you wanted to be a lawyer, you wouldn’t pull a Suits and get a job at a law firm. You would see if you have the pre-requisite courses already, if you didn’t you would go do an undergraduate degree somewhere so that you would. Then you would study for the LSAT. Then you would take the LSAT. Then you would apply to law schools. Then you would go to law school, take the classes, article, study for the bar, pass the bar, and then you would be a lawyer, hopefully with a job at a law firm.
Also, you could change your mind at any one of those steps. If you do the undergrad and decide that you hated all those classes and weren’t interested in being a lawyer anymore then you stop. Starting to do the big thing does not commit you to doing all the stops to the big thing. But you’ll never know if you actually want the big thing, or are capable of the big thing unless you start doing all the small steps on the way to achieving the big thing.
So pick a thing, anything. And do it. Go to dinner by yourself (take a book), go to the movies by yourself, travel, start your podcast, go for a hike. If you think you’ll like it, if you think you could be good at it, or you know you’ll be terrible but you want to give it a shot, go do the thing.
This was much more earnest than I remembered I could be, so, what’s your thing?
Laura
Thoughtful Millennial 