You Don’t Have to Feel Ready!

It's back-to-school season. And whether you're sending a child off to kindergarten, high school, college, or you're just watching another summer come to an end, there's something about this time of year that feels like a fresh start.

Think about what we ask our kids to do. Walk into a new classroom. Meet new people. Try out for the team. Sit at a new lunch table. Leave home for college. Do things they've never done before. And most of the time, they're not completely ready.

They're nervous, they're uncertain, maybe even scared. But we tell them...Go anyway. You'll figure it out. You'll meet people. You'll learn. You'll grow. You'll be okay.

It got me thinking...Why don't we give ourselves that same advice?

As adults, we spend so much time waiting to feel ready before we're willing to make a change. We wait for motivation. We wait for confidence. We wait for the fear to go away. But maybe mental toughness isn't about feeling ready. Maybe it's being willing to walk through the door even when we’re not ready. Because confidence doesn't always come before we do the hard thing.

Sometimes confidence is what we get after we've done it. So as kids head into a new school year, maybe there's a lesson here for us too. What's one door you've been standing in front of, waiting to feel ready to walk through? Maybe it's time. Take the next step.