
When I started this blog, I am sort of clueless. I am still learning how to navigate through this, but I know I’ll learn it along the way, and it is kinda exciting; discovering things is actually fun.
I don’t know a lot about a blog, but one thing is for sure – I need to post something (it is after all the purpose of a blog). But the funny thing is, when I reached the section where I have to create my first post, I was kinda stunned; I paused for God knows how long and It really took me a while.
Most of the times it is really hard to start something. There really is something about the ‘first times’ that is somehow terrifying. Sometimes the first steps are really the hardest. Even though you already prepped yourself and you really think that you are ready, sometimes when you are already there, you just froze.
Well, this is not my first post technically (I got over it, thankfully). But I can’t help but think of why s it hard for me to start some things, and here is what I came up with:
1. First Impressions Lasts
Sometimes we do things to impress other people, especially for those people who have strong needs for other people’s approval. I am not really sure if the “first impression lasts” is true to other people, but the thought of it is somehow terrifying.
It is hard to start if that thought is hanging on your mind, because you want things to be near perfect before actually executing it. You want to polish and polish and polish and then you stall, you postpone and you do that again and again and most of the times you end up not doing anything at all.
It is really nice to establish a good first impression (especially if that may be your only chance to impress), but the thing is no one is really sure if what you’ll do will impress people, unless you try and actually do it. After all, we can’t really please everyone. And maybe it would be better if we do things to EXPRESS and not really to IMPRESS.
But then again, if we really want to impress, we just need to prepare, and have the courage to take the first step.
2. Fear, anxiety and fear and anxiety
Well, this is somehow similar to item number one; maybe I just want to give FEAR some more emphasis.
Fear of failure, fear of being criticized, or pretty much fear of a lot of things. Sometimes we really just worry a lot, or think a lot, making things a bit more complicated. We tend to do that a lot of times and sometimes we seem to overindulge ourselves with this anxiety.
True enough, anything unknown is really terrifying, but sooner or later we do have to face that fear. So, just say to yourself to hell with fear
3. Instant Excellence
Again, related to number one.
Sometimes, we want our first shot to hit the jackpot instantly; we want our first try to be super excellent. I guess, it is just normal to want that, and sometimes we can get lucky and hit the jackpot instantly. It is always a nice goal to aim for the best. It is just that sometimes because of being too perfectionist, we tend to overthink, we stall, we postpone, and we never actually take a step to start until we are convinced that everything is perfect.
The truth is sometimes we may need to start small, and we should not be afraid to start small. We have to accept that we can’t always start big time. What is important is we START.
4. Idea Overload
Having ideas is good, but having too much of it is sometimes drowning. After all, too much of anything is really not good. Too much information is so confusing and overwhelming that we don’t now how to start. This for me is a serious problem as it happens to me a lot of times. But what I do is pause, take a deep breath and then panic. Just kidding. I don’t know what works for other people but for me, what I need is to relax first, write the random ideas, try my best to organize, and I select what topic to focus first.
5. Simply Clueless
Sometimes, you just really have no idea what to do. It happens. Sometimes it is just mental block. But sometimes you are simply clueless; you’re just too excited with an idea without even knowing anything about it, so when it is already time to start it, you are clueless and don’t know what to do.
However, I believe that it is ok to be dumb or clueless sometimes as long as you don’t stay way.
6. Lazy
Sometimes we are not really dumb, but just lazy.
There are times that we are just so in love with an idea but uninterested to really start it. Or maybe we really want an idea, and we love planning it, we want the goal and the idea of what we can yield from it but then we get lazy when it comes to the execution.
I don’t really know if there is a cure for laziness, but I guess sometimes we just need some motivation and a little PUSH.
There may be a lot of other reasons why it is hard to start. But what important is we start. It may be hard (It really is), but most of the times, once we get past through that “first step”, the rest is easier (at least most of the times, I guess, as there may still be some bumps along the way, but that’s usual). We can never be sure if what will be the result of our “start”, but starting something is always better than not starting at all. If ever we fail, we just get up, learn from the experience and start-over.