There is no perfect time.
“I’m going to wait until I get that promotion before I travel the world”
“I’ll finally take those salsa classes when I have more time.”
Does this sound familiar?
If it does, welcome to the club — alongside billions of other humans. We, humans, seem to be great at coming up with excuses for not doing what we truly want.
So great that psychologists came up with a term for it called “Cognitive Dissonance.” It’s when our behaviors (what we do) do not align with our attitudes (what we think). But every time we come up with another excuse, we will be further away from creating the life we want for ourselves.
We deny ourselves the visceral pleasure of experiencing that passion. We rob ourselves of the joy that comes with an alignment of selves with our truth. There might be some truth to the YOLO movement (You Only Live Once). It was very popular with the millennials in the early 2000s for a reason.
Here are some reasons why you shouldn’t delay the things you love any longer.
You Evolve
Did you know your brain cells produce 700 new neurons a day? Our bodies continue to regenerate cells, with some parts evolving faster than others, such as the skin and gut cells.
Some organs regenerate cells at a slower rate. Our heart only changes 40% of the cells responsible for heart contraction throughout our lives. The phrase “having had a change of heart” has literal biological underpinnings.
Similar to the heart cells renewing — your views, preferences, priorities, and lifestyles change as you grow older. Let’s say; in your teens, you really wanted to go to a Bon Jovi concert. Lo and behold, they came to play about 2 hours away from where you live!
You are stoked! But can’t figure out a way to get there. You don’t have a driver’s license, and public transports are just horrendous where you live. So you tell yourself… Someday, when you can drive, you will go to that Bon Jovi concert.
Fast forward to your thirties. You finally have a driver’s license. Bon Jovi’s making another stop a few hours down where you live. But by then, the thought of going to an overcrowded concert with hundreds of screaming fans did not seem enticing anymore.
You’ve discovered meditation and much rather spend a weekend going to a yoga retreat in the jungle than screaming your heart out at “It’s My Life.” You might not enjoy concerts as much as you do later on in life. And that’s totally okay. But delaying doing what you loved when you wanted…You would have missed out on experiencing Bon Jovi live altogether.
Life Circumstances Change
You might have it all planned out. You will start writing that book when you give up your full-time job. You will get a cabin in the forest, be rid of all the distractions, get a month-long supply of food, and start hammering out those words.
The thing about life is that it’s unpredictable. You might then decide to have children and need to keep your full-time job to be able to provide for them.
You might have aging parents with expensive medical bills that need your financial support, so you are not able to give up that day job. The thing you can definitely expect out of life is that it will throw you curveballs.
Unfortunately, you don’t get to decide what those curveballs are.
What you do get to decide is — how to steer your life despite those curveballs. Keep moving in the direction of what you love. If you are always waiting to live, you might not end up living at all.
There Is No Perfect Time
Your levels of time, money, and energy change as you age. As the picture suggests — the different stages of life present you with varying levels of each aspect. If you wait for the perfect time for all three aspects to be maximized, you will be waiting for the rest of your lives.
Instead, what you should do instead, is find a balance between all those times. Be flexible with how you pursue what you love to fit your continuously evolving self.
For example, I love traveling. I caught the travel bug in my early twenties and have been to almost 40 countries since.
In my twenties, when I had time and energy, but less financial means, I would travel backpacker style. I would always pick the cheapest flights, which usually meant flying off at ridiculous hours, sometimes requiring me to spend the night at the airport. I could easily survive on 4 hours of sleep and still be up and running the next day.
Now in my thirties, when I have a bit more money but less time and energy compared to my twenties… I would pick flights that are conveniently timed. Preferably around mid-day so I will have enough time to get a good night’s sleep. I value rest a lot more after working full-time, so I don’t mind splurging a little more on a good hotel or Airbnb.
Our bodies, circumstances, and priorities change as we age. Don’t fight it, and try to do something out of alignment. Instead, honor the ever-changing you and find a way to balance all of them while still doing what you love.
It is an art.
This article was originally published on Medium.
