You already know the answer

I begin to doubt myself when I ask too many questions to which I already know the answers. That inner knowing diminishes, and my trust in myself is silenced.

We are good at silencing intuition, and when something goes wrong, we say ¨I knew this would happen¨.

My question is, if you knew this would happen, why did you do it?

A few years ago, I decided to listen to my intuition. It was when I quit my job, and I gained self-confidence each time I listened to your inner voice.

You find that seeking outsider validation is less important than it once was. Because you, my dear, already know the answer.

When I was brought to this earth, I had a purpose: to live and to have experiences. Each of us has a different way we want to experience life, and my way is different from yours.

Yet when I ask someone a question about my way of life, of course, I will get an answer that does not align with my values, ethics, or method of living.

Then, if you already question yourself, you will allow the opinion of someone who does not understand you to give you poor advice. Trust me, you already know the answer to your question, so why ask?

We seek validation; we want others to tell us it is a good idea; instead, you will get the opposite, and then when you change your mind or do not do what you want, they will still judge you.

Ask you ¨so why did you not do that thing¨? Mainly, their opinion affected you, but you do not say this; instead, you make up a lie, ¨the timing was off¨, I remember what you said, ¨it was too hard¨.

We all do this all the time; at least, I did for most of my adult life until I decided enough was enough.

Mainly because I began trusting my intuition, even if it did not end as I expected; I went after it tried, learned a lesson, and, more importantly, grew from the experience.

There was never a time that a failure did not teach me something. Sitting here, I can look back and wonder why I didn’t do this or that. So next time, I know to go bigger dream bigger.

Because even if we do not ask people’s opinions, most will interject, and we have to be strong enough to say thank you and do whatever we want anyway.

I know, ¨but Sara, maybe they are right¨.

You are right, but I would like to learn the lesson independently. I would prefer to go all the way around the world to realize I left my heart and a piece of my soul somewhere else, and I must return.

Instead, I would make a million mistakes writing and learning to write rather than not have started at all.

You already know the answers, so why not start?

Why not follow the breadcrumbs that are laid out before you? I do not write to give advice, yet I love reading about failed ventures because if you read about them, you have overcome your obstacle.

There is a book by Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle is The Way. I listened to it years ago, and to this day, I still think about it, how there will always be something in the way, and whether you will let it defeat you or are you going to figure out a way around it.

“The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.”

Ryan Holiday

Most obstacles in modern-day life are the naysayers, those who you think have your best interest at heart but always let you down when you ask their opinions and advice.

I stopped, and if I do, I don’t listen and often get told, why did you ask if you don’t want my advice? My response is always out of curiosity. Nothing more.

It also helps weed out those who will not be in your corner.

My head was full of ideas, stress, and worry when I started writing. Which is how this became a diary of sorts for me.

I treat it as morning pages, but I edit and have more structure. But sometimes, when I write, a stream of consciousness appears, and I still hit publish, messy and all. As that is life.

If this was me even four years ago, I would have overanalyzed every letter, word, and article and asked a hundred people if they thought it was good enough to publish. Now, I have a different mission.

Well, it has never changed, but as someone in my comments once said, now I walk the walk. I always told people to do it and not care what anyone thinks, but I would never follow my advice.

However, since starting to write, I started taking my advice. I upload, hit publish, and encourage others to do the same. I am an incognito cheerleader for all my friends to succeed, and when I tell someone to try it, it is not because I want them to fail; I want them to leap to see that it is not that scary after all and they can do it.

So yes, YOU already know the answer to all the questions you might ask. Embrace that you are the only animal to talk, think and create.