PATRICK FELLOWS

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There’s always a chasm

Anything worth doing is probably hard and uncomfortable. The converse is true as well not to mention the mental anguish you feel. Going out on your own or taking risk makes us ask questions of ourselves or really just amplifies the questions we all ask. 

“Am I good enough?”  

“Can I do it?”  

“Will I fail?”

On top of that. Most of the time those questions never end, but you should have known that. 


For the better part of the last 20 years I’ve worked for myself in some way, shape or form to different levels of what we’d all consider success. Some of the things, I did because I was naive, some because I thought they were no brainers, some were because I had some egotistical “Steve Jobs syndrome” in which I thought I’d build what the world (Baton Rouge) needed and that they’d figure it out later.  All of which I did because I thought it could work regardless of whether I made money.


Because of this, there is a perception that I may know something you don’t about starting.  It’s true but it’s not what you think. I’m not sitting on some master document that gives me a step by step on how to start a triathlon or a meal prep service, or a health brand.  No such thing exists (yet).


 I also won’t wax poetic about this trend of glorifying failure, perceived or actual, because the latter builds a fear of the former.  Failure fucking sucks. Period. It makes you doubt everything. So let’s agree to stop making it sound like a glorious stepping stone to becoming successful.  That’s not to say you won’t, because most of us will. Some of us will learn from it. My experience is we don’t learn enough. 


This isn't about the bad times though. It’s about the good ones. The times when you’re filled with eternal optimism for your ideas or things you want to change. Where you can clearly see the path to what you want, but you can’t get past the first hump. The fear is too great or the path seems impossible, yet there it is. Calling out. 


So how do you get there?  The answer is obvious and simple but no more easy to do. 


You jump. 


Everything worth doing is hard and uncomfortable, and all the planning in the world won’t negate that when it’s time to go, there will be a chasm and your going to have to jump. 


I promise you’ll make it to the other side. I’ll also promise that for every first jump, most of us will encounter a hundred more. 


Get good at jumping. You’re going to be doing it from now on. 


#hugsandhi5s