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The Voice Of Doubt

By Marsha Maung

Monday, September 01, 2008

I love anything fun and exciting; in fact, I revel in change and challenge. Therefore, it’s safe to say that I’ve tried a myriad of things in the past and have failed or failed to follow-up with what I started throughout my thirty-odd years of living. I leave a debris-strewn past behind me, trailing miserably and reminding me of past misdeeds and could-have-beens. But it does not stop me from pursuing things that means something to me.

Realization hit home when I read an inspirational note someone wrote (sorry, can’t remember who) in some website (sorry, can’t remember which) but I remember the meaning and logic behind it like I remember my mother’s name.

‘Only when something means a lot to you that doubt will hit. The louder doubt is calling, the nearer you are to your destination’.

Assuming you’re in the car driving your kids to Florida for a trip to Disneyland. About fifty miles away, you’re beginning to feel the heat and the boredom of driving and being stuck to your seat gets to you. You’re thinking, ‘should I turn back now?’ But you persist.

About thirty miles away from Disneyland, your kids’ annoying ‘are we there yet’ is making you snarl and hiss. Once again, you ask yourself, ‘It’s not too late to turn back because I won’t be able to enjoy myself by the time we reach there. This is just no fun anymore. What’s the point?’ But in the end, you persist.

Then twenty miles off, traffic is slowing down because you’re exiting the highway – you’re thinking to yourself ‘This is not worth it at all! Whose lousy smartass idea was this, anyway? Oh. It was mine, wasn’t it?’

A few more miles down, you’re stuck in a line so long that it’s practically a standstill and you realize that it’s summer time and the whole world is in Florida.

The point is this….the nearer you are to your destination, the longer you would have been in the journey. This means that doubt would have been calling out to you for a long time and it is when you’re nearing the end that you feel the strongest urge to turn back. Don’t. The destination is near so hang in there.

This is not an article about a trip to Disneyland in Florida nor is it an article about traveling or vacationing with the kids. It’s about goal reaching. When you are trying to reach a goal, be sure that there will be lots of time that doubt calls you back. It tries to plant negative thoughts into your head, making you think that it wasn’t a very bright idea in the first place and that you could end up looking really stupid.

Doubt is like your enemy when you’re trying to achieve something big. Sure, it provides for a check-and-balance but if you listen to it for too long, it pulls you back. Treat doubt like you would treat a spouse reminding you to wear your seatbelt. It calls you, you check, then go - the way you would check your seatbelt when your spouse reminds you. Do you stop the car? Nope.

The voice of doubt gets louder as you get nearer to your final destination, so, listen to it with caution. Will yourself and tell yourself that if it wasn’t so important or life-changing, why would doubt bother, anyway?

Only when it’s important that the voice of doubt hollers.

© 2008. Marsha Maung. You are free to republish this article in your own website or blog but please also reprint the byline below INCLUDING the links. Thank you.

Marsha Maung is a Malaysian-based freelance writer with two kids. She spends her time ferrying her kids around, watering her plants, writing web content, SEO stuff, ghostwriting books and also indulges in the occasional Facebook-ing. Visit her freelance writer website for more information.