Do It Afraid

Confidence is overrated.

Not because it is not powerful, but because we keep waiting for it before we move.

We think brave people feel ready. We think bold people wake up certain. We imagine courage as something steady and unshaken. The truth is, most courage is quiet and slightly nervous.

It is applying anyway. It is speaking even when your voice trembles.

It is trying again while remembering the last time it did not work.

Fear does not mean stop. It often means this matters.

The real problem is not that we are scared. It is that we think fear disqualifies us. So we postpone our dreams until we feel confident, not realising that confidence usually comes after action, not before it.

You do not become fearless and then begin.

You begin, and somewhere along the way, fear loosens its grip.

Do it unsure. Do it shaky. Do it while your heart is racing.

You do not need the absence of fear. You need a decision.

Sometimes that decision is simply this. I am scared, but I am going anyway.

All my love,

-Olamide from MANI