A few months after I moved to Pennsylvania, I was in a car accident. In a rush to answer a call, an EMT vehicle driving in front of me, unexpectedly backed up over the hood of my car. It had missed the street it was supposed to take. And, even though I hadn’t been following it too closely, and had braked when the driver stopped, he hit me.
My car was a mess. I was injured. I was in a new state, and I didn’t have a clue where to send my car to get fixed, or who to ask for help. But, that wasn’t the worst part. For months after, I was scared to drive.
The sight of brake lights sent panic through me. Embarrassingly, if I was in a car and my friend was driving, I’d find myself hitting an imaginary brake with my foot whenever those red lights went on in front of us. When I had to drive, I’d do as many errands as I could while I was out, so I wouldn’t have to go out again.
That season, I drove as little as possible. I was afraid because I knew what a crash felt like—and how hard it was to heal after. I didn’t want to be in that situation again.
It’s amazing how something you’ve done a million times before, can all of a sudden become scary. How one experience can have such a powerful hold on you for months or even years to come. Or how our first hand knowledge can keep us from doing really good and important things, like driving.
In the same way, when it comes to following our biggest goals and dreams, often it is what we know that holds us back. Though so many of us claim we don’t have the education, experience, or knowledge to go after our dreams, that usually isn’t the issue. Our problem isn’t what we don’t know, but rather what we do.
Our problem isn’t what we don’t know, but rather what we do.
In our world today, we have more information at our fingertips than any other generation in history. We can search Google for almost everything. We can open up our favorite social media app and not only know what our best friend did last night, but also discover our favorite actor is in New York City. Further, we can see how others are succeeding.
All we have to do is click a few buttons, and start scrolling. In front of us will be a feed of everyone’s best moments. How they’re killing it at being a parent, taking the best vacations, or growing their online platform—all while their houses looks amazing. Because we decide who we follow, our social feeds are often perfectly curated to show us the lives we want. Only, for some of us, they are paralyzing us from making our dreams a reality.
Because we decide who we follow, our social feeds are often perfectly curated to show us the lives we want. Only, for some of us, they are paralyzing us from making our dreams a reality.
All our scrolling reminds us of what our lives aren’t. It keeps us focused on everyone else, distracting us and at times, immobilizing us. Sometimes, it overwhelms us, showing us all the things we’d like to be true about our lives. Others, it reveals we can’t keep up, so we shouldn’t even try.
In other words, we know too much about everyone else. While we spend very little time actually creating plans to go after the dreams burning in our hearts. For many of us, this knowledge is keeping us from stepping out and doing the scary work of moving forward.
A few months after my car accident, my college roommate asked me to drive with her as she moved back east after finishing grad school. A road trip with my best friend sounded awesome, only I was still scared to drive. I had a choice. I could say no and miss out on time with my friend. Or, I could say yes and face my fear every day on the road. I chose the latter.
Sometimes, we have to push past the things we know—car accidents are scary, our lives will never look like their’s, etc.—to grab a hold of the things we’re meant to do and be.
Sometimes, we have to push past the things we know—car accidents are scary, our lives will never look like their’s, etc.—to grab a hold of the things we’re meant to do and be. I couldn’t have lived my life too afraid to drive. But also, you and I can’t live our lives caught up in what we know too much about. We need to move forward.
Where do you know too much? About life? About people online?
How is this knowledge distracting or discouraging you from moving forward?
Are you in the midst of making a hard decision? Contemplating a big life change? If so, you may be interested in my FREE Making Changes Checklist that I give to all my email friends. Want your free copy? subscribe here.
