Before Another Man Does It First
I used to be the poster child for gifted kids—or at least every adult in my life made me feel like I was.
Growing up, I was convinced that I was destined for great things. My high school teacher once told me that I was the best writer in class, and my guidance counselor during those mandatory one-on-one counseling said that I was bound for success. So I don’t know how it happened but some time in the last twenty-one years, I feel like I’ve become more and more mediocre.
I’ve been wanting to start this blog for longer than I’d like to admit. I’ve written and rewritten countless drafts only to press delete. I’m just convinced that nothing I had to say was worth sharing, nothing felt extraordinary enough to post.
I was scrolling online the other day, as one does, looking for inspiration on how to start a good blog and I fell into a rabbit hole of self-development videos, all preaching the same simple advice: to just start. And sure, that sounds easy enough. But it’s not. Not when you’re anything like me—pessimistic, overcritical, and constantly convinced that everything I make could be better. I started this draft back in summer, and now there’s only fifty-three days left before Christmas.
I’ve been sitting on this draft for months, tweaking a sentence here and deleting another there. But I finally decided enough is enough after seeing this guy I know from college launch his own blog type thing. I can’t believe a man beat me to it! So here I am, finally pressing “publish” and learning to be okay with just being—before another man beats me to it again.






