{YES}

Before you begin reading, go ahead and push play. This song is bomb. Kodaline is the tits. And this song is one of many inspirations for this blog post. Enjoy 🙂

 

I love those moments in life when everything slows down for a second and you look around and realize that you can finally verbalize what you have been learning for the last few weeks, months, year. Those moments are so great because it’s like you can finally take a deep breath and everything you have been doing up until that moment seems to all make sense. Sometimes those moments of realization feel like a punch in the gut. Sometimes you find you have been doing all the wrong things for all the wrong reasons and it is time to reevaluate. Sometimes you realize you need to let go. These moments are so important and I think we learn the most when we are at our weakest.

However, sometimes these moments are full of relief and excitement. They propel us forward and make our goals that much clearer. I have had one of those moments recently and hot diggity dog it feels so good :P.

My friend Shaun and I have been talking a lot about saying yes. He is about to graduate from Missouri State and BIG THINGS ARE HAPPENING FOR HIM!!! Huge things. New York things 🙂 I am so excited for him! I recently got accepted into law school at UMKC to begin classes in the fall. I am completely humbled and so FREAKING STOKED to be starting this new adventure. He and I had a conversation over the phone about a week ago and we realized that there were moments we almost didn’t even bother reaching for the paths we are about to walk down. It was moments of “why the hell not, I don’t have to tell anyone if it doesn’t work out, right?” that motivated us to even try. And it wasn’t for lack of passion. I am very excited about law school. Shaun has wanted to move to New York and pursue a career there since I met him 5 years ago. But there is one thing that always seems to follow us when our dreams get bigger and bigger: FEAR.

Fear is the most annoying thing about living because it is 100% BOGUS. Seriously. I mean, I guess fear is our natural basic instinct to keep us alive, but how often do you find yourself in a real physical life-or-death situation where all you have is your basic instincts to protect you? You don’t. The only thing fear does is makes us convince ourselves that we are not good enough. And friends I am here to tell each and every one of you YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH. You are smart enough. You are motivated enough. You are creative enough. You are strong enough to move to New York. To apply for that dream position. To get accepted into law school. To be showcased at the Plaza Art Fair (here’s looking at you Allison Nill Art). To get get accepted into the PhD program you are obsessed with (ahem…Nikki McClaran). To become a nurse or a doctor and to share that gift with people who desperately need it (yes, I am talking to you Audrey Fleenor). To build the community you dream of being a part of (yes, you Mike Scott). You just have to say yes.

It is incredible how many doors simply saying yes opens up. Yes is an inherently open response. Yes creates dialogue, adventures, mistakes, opportunities, friendships, marriages. It is constantly moving forward. No is the opposite. It is closed off. It ends the conversation. I will say, no is needed sometimes. I won’t pretend like it isn’t. But for me, there is no place for “no” when I am telling myself what I want for my life. I will not let fear dictate my decisions. Actually, I feel if I am afraid of something, that is all the more reason to do it. Applying to law school was terrifying. What happened if I didn’t get in? What would I tell everyone? What would I do then? What would my next step be? It would have been easier to say, “that isn’t for me” and convince myself that was a valid excuse in order to save my pride. But that would have been allowing fear to win. I am so glad I told my inner doubts to shut the f&#!k up.

Yes. It’s a small word but it is a powerful word. We don’t have time for no’s. There is too much life to live. There are too many countries to visit and bad haircuts to be had and degrees to earn and jobs to slay and states to live in. There are too many songs to write and paintings to create and families to build and happiness to find. There are too many rivers to kayak and campfires to build and video games to design and books to write. There are just too many things to do for there to be room for fear.

You are better than no. You deserve to say yes.

with love,

j.