The time passes anyway

When I was contemplating returning to school, I spoke with an admissions specialist on a fairly regular basis. I was ambivalent about taking on the challenge. As the head of household for a active family and working a job where I was on call for approaching 24/7, I was concerned about being able to make the time commitment necessary to see it through. I didn't want to fail and I wanted to be the stellar student I knew I could be.

I'd almost given into the voices saying, "Now is not the right time," but the admissions specialist said something -- which I imagine was part of her script to overcome objections -- that resonnated with me in a way nothing else, pro or con, had. She said: The time will pass anyway. The only difference at the end of two years will be whether or not I'd earned the degree.

I couldn't argue with that logic. The time would pass and I would use it in some way. But would I use it in a way more productive, fulfilling and important that going back to school? Did I have other plans or important goals that going back to school at that time would impede? If not, and I didn't, why wasn't I taking this plunge?

There was no reason why, so I did. And she was right. The two years did pass anyway, but at the end I had the degree to show for it. 

So often we put off the things we want, or even need, to do. We are waiting for the right time, for it to fit into the schedule better, for there to be enough money, for others to buy into the sacrifices, for it not to require so many sacrifices ... and sometimes those reasons are very valid.

But most of the things we put ahead of pursuing the desires of our hearts are not. We often block our own dreams with mere excuses, things not worthy of being speed bumps on the road to our success, much less the detours or roadblocks we make them. We get in our own way, we prevent ourselves or undermine our efforts -- with plates too full or fears of failure -- and end up doing noting. But the time passes anyway.

We need to embrace and expand those desires we hold dear and remember, doing them a day at a time, we will eventually succeed, as the time passes.