Lens | Start Before You’re Ready

When you left home for the first time, or started a family, or asked your boss, “Do you have a minute?” right before quitting, you might have been excited about the change, weighed all your options, created a plan, and finally jumped. But look back at these moments. If you’re honest with yourself, were you 100 percent ready? Did you know exactly what was going to happen next? Everyone has fears. Even the most prepared, talented, and accomplished people are sometimes scared to begin. (In fact, sometimes they’re the most scared.) Fear helps us delay big decisions until those decisions are made for us. Fear leads to choosing our college major at the last possible moment, or tolerating a job we’re not crazy about for “just a little while longer.” Fear is very good at keeping us cozy—until outside forces barrel in and tell us it’s time to move on, whether we’re ready or not. Outside forces can grant us accidental gifts, even when they shake up our lives. We learn to start again, because the

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• Isamar Vega