Excuses are Really Lies....

Excuses are a great way to keep me from having to do the work I must do to achieve a more satisfying life.   I can come up with all sorts of excuses for why I shouldn't do this, can't do that.  Here are a few of my favorites.

• I don't have enough time!  I do, however, have enough time to surf the Internet, watch Forensic Files or Dateline reruns for the third time, and read countless blogs each day.
•  I'll just screw it up and fail.  Does it matter?  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?  Who cares if I mess up a few times?  That's how we learn and grow.
• My expectations are too high, and I'll just end up disappointed.  Really?  Won't it be every bit or even more disappointing to know I could have had something if I'd only tried for it?  A disappointing life is far worse than a disappointing moment or two.
• It's not the right time.  I need everything in place first.  This is by far one of my worst excuses.  There will never be a time when everything is completely in place and organized and ready to go.  Life happens and aspects of life shift constantly.  What was one minute ago might be another thing entirely tomorrow!
• I'm not smart/pretty/intelligent/outgoing/funny/thin/creative enough.  I'll never measure up, so why bother? 

Looking at this list makes me realize that "excuses" is too good a word, because everything on this list is actually a lie.  As long as I keep lying to myself, I don't have to give myself a chance.  I can just keep pretending that it all could have been if only...if only it was the right time, or if only I was a little prettier.  If only I had a little more time in the day, if only the moon and stars and planets aligned correctly, I, in the words of Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, "coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it."

Let's face it.  If I don't try I'll never know if I would have failed.  I can use the very excuses that I might fail to convince myself I wouldn't have failed if I had just tried. What a false sense of comfort that is!

The reality is better said by Leo F. Buscaglia:

“The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.”