5 Reasons Why It is So Hard to Actually Do What You Want to Do

I guess to even begin to answer that question you would first need to know exactly what it is that you want to do. Which is an entire other blog post for an entirely different day.

But when it really comes down to it, why is it so hard to actually do what it is that you’re passionate about? Why is it so difficult to take the plunge and really start working towards your dreams? Cheesy as these questions are, they are seriously relevant to my life right now.

I spend so much time thinking about what I want to do and literally no time actually doing it. I sit and think and I imagine and I dream. But I hardly ever, just do.

It feels as though there are these huge invisible obstacles standing in my way. Hovering over me and weighing me down. Blocking me from even entering the realm in my brain that would allow me to produce more proactive thoughts. Obstacles that scream “you can’t” and tear down the tiny pigmy thoughts that tell me “you can”.

And now I sound crazy.

But that really is how I feel.

Obviously these “invisible obstacles” are my mind’s own creation. Imaginary monsters that live in my head and somehow convince me what I am and am not capable of.

But to tell you the truth, I think I’m capable of a lot more than what I’m doing now.

So basically, here are the 5 reasons excuses I use to explain why I can’t do what I actually want to do and why they’re totally invalid:

5. I’M WAY TOO BUSY

This is not a lie. True story here people. I really am insanely busy. I work full time as a manager in retail. I go to school full time. I work long hours and stay late and have homework and deadlines and am so, so tired. I feel guilty reading a book for pleasure, let alone filming beauty tutorials.

WHY THIS IS TOTALLY INVALID AND LAME:

Because I am one of MANY college students who work and go to school full time. Come on, now. I really just need to get over myself because I am not special and I am not unique. This is everyone’s life. And I have friends who use their spare time to write books of poetry or volunteer at the SPCA.

I use my spare time to eat frozen burritos and scroll through Pinterest.

If it’s important to you, you can make time for it. Period.

4. I’M GOING TO DO IT LATER IN LIFE

This is sort of related to the excuse I listed above. Right now I’m so swamped with everything I have to do in life and maybe after I get my degree things will slow down and I’ll finally be able to have time to do what I want to do.

WHY THIS IS TOTALLY INVALID AND LAME:

There will ALWAYS be something else in my life that will get in the way. Right now it is school and work. After I graduate there will be other things in my life that I have to balance. My life is filled with so many different people and activities but that does not mean that it is full. That does not mean that there is no more room for something new. Especially if that something new is something that could bring me happiness and fulfillment.

3. WHAT IF MY FRIENDS/CO-WORKERS/CLASSMATES/FAMILY THINK I’M WEIRD?

Thinking about people I know seeing me trying to teach other people in the world how to apply eye liner on Youtube, or posting pictures of my fashion ideas on Pinterest is literally terrifying to me. It gives me so much anxiety. What if people laugh at me? What if people think I’m super weird and awkward? What if I AM super weird and awkward? To see people who I care about (and okay, sometimes people I barely even know) judge me or think I’m unimpressive is something that worries me more than I’d like to admit.

WHY THIS IS TOTALLY INVALID AND LAME:

First of all, anyone who is my actual friend would never make me feel bad about my aspirations or ideas. Family too. If they do they really don’t belong in my life. Second of all, my generation is WAY too obsessed with image and what other people think about them. We base our personal value as a human being on how many likes our pictures get and how many people follow us. We have reduced ourselves to a number and what’s worse, we actually like it. I absolutely love social media, but it often acts as nothing more than a ranking system. It can make us mindless and it can remove us from feeling an actual human connection. Which is ironic, because I’m pretty sure the original point of it was to do the opposite.

Well, that was a bit of a tangent. My main point here is it really is so lame to not doing something because you’re afraid of what that girl on Instagram might think.

2. I’M REALLY LAZY

I honestly think I am one of the laziest people on earth sometimes. I am a sloth. Napping is my sport of choice. I eat in bed. I watch Netflix like a fiend. I love online shopping from my phone, because then I don’t have to lean over and reach for my laptop. The only time I enjoy getting up and answering the door is if it’s the delivery guy with my Chinese food. I want to make keys for my boyfriend not because I want them to be some sort of symbol of elevation in our relationship, but because then I wouldn’t have to let him in.

I am lazy.

And this is why the thought of actually filming videos and writing blog posts and taking pictures and going outside sounds awful to me.

WHY THIS IS TOTALLY INVALID AND LAME:

Dude. Seriously?

I am 20. I am young and alive and I really should act like it. Although there are times that I think I totally deserve and benefit from a nice, relaxing night in where I can just lay in bed and read, I also think going outside and seeing the world is such a satisfying way to spend the day. Especially since I live in this beautiful, amazing, electric city that makes me feel like I’m important and insignificant all at once. There is so much inspiration just living within these streets and it could be so easy to write about it all. I just need to sit down, and do it. Not think about doing it. Just do it. I cannot allow my “laziness” to stop me from being who I want to be.

1. I’M AFRAID OF FAILURE

It petrifies me. I am simultaneously terrified of failing at what I want to do and of not doing anything at all. Which is worse? To dream so big that your heart is constantly filled with belief, only to have those dreams become shattered and meaningless or to carry around these hopes and desires without ever attempting to fulfill them. Like heavy suit cases you never open. Contemplating the consequences of either leaves me paralyzed and stops me from trying anything.

WHY THIS IS TOTALLY INVALID AND LAME:

There is comfort in knowing that I am not the only one in the world who feels this way. Isn’t everyone afraid of failure? Isn’t everyone afraid of amounting to “nothing”? I think the only true remedy here is to ask yourself, “What is ‘nothing’?”. What constitutes failure in life? Can you really fail at life? I’m not totally sure.

All I know is that personally, I have a hard time living with too many “What ifs?” in my life.

I say this now, at the tender age of 20. I know, almost kind of silly when I think of how much more life there is in front of me.

But honestly, this is what I think about. All the time. I know I’m not the only one here.

And I think that is part of the problem. Too much thinking. Too much analyzing.

It’s time, to just do.