When are we ready?

Tis' time for the last blog post.  It seems like just yesterday we began this journey together and just like that, it's coming to a close.  I've spent the last week doing a great deal of reflecting mostly around the question, am I ready? I feel pretty strongly you all can relate.  We know the work.  We live the work.  We're a group of some of the most reflective people I know with big hearts for students and for service.  Still, there's a little nerve inside me that just keeps nagging with self doubt.  Doubt is just fear with a less scary name. It's worry about the unknown.  It's questioning because it hasn't happened yet.  What if I'm not good enough?  What if I don't know enough?  What if I haven't experienced enough? What if, what if, what if... Here's the deal (stolen from the internet), 

"It's a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you're ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything.  There is almost no such thing as ready.  There is only now. And you may as well as do it now.  Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any." -Hugh Laurie, The Gun Seller

Our work doesn't come with a standard operating procedure manual that will guide day to day job demands.  We'll never know it all.  We'll never have experienced enough.  That's what makes us ready.  We know the readiness really comes from the right mindset, the right questioning, the right listening, and the right heart.  Most importantly, the readiness comes from the drive to not just sit still and be complacent but to act for students first in every decision and choice you make.  That makes us ready.  

When I was little, I was so shy.  I know that's hard to believe.  I was terrified of messing up, of seeming strange, of not saying the right thing, of being laughed at, of failing...of all the things.  I liked to control my world and my outcomes.  37 years of that not working out and falling flat on my face more times than I can count have knocked that right out of me.  I've learned to not be afraid of anything.  I've learned that failure is where I grow the best and can actually thrive the most.  I'm never perfect.  I've learned to love myself and to like the joy and happy noise I can create in others more than the silence I get from worrying too much.  I've learned fear is a silly enemy that can easily be beat if you just get up and try.  When I find myself teetering on the edge of fear and doubt, I reign it in with memories of what I have done and dreams of what I can do.  What if we spent as much time dreaming about what ifs in terms of future gains instead of what ifs in the form of future failure? What if we can empower others to do the same?  What if the world actually did get better because of our efforts? What if... what if... what if... Here's the deal (again stolen from the internet),

"Anyone who thinks they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room." -The Dalia Lama

We are not small.  We are big.  Big brains, big attitudes, big hearts, big mindsets, big skills, and big all the other things I can't think of right now.  We are more than capable of doing the work.  Listen to your heart. Fill out the application. Swat the doubt like that mosquito in the room.  Get up and get going.  The kids can't wait.