Do you talk yourself out of doing things even though you know they’d probably be exciting and enjoyable if you did them?
This summer I had every reason to talk myself out of taking a three week road trip to San Diego:
- The overinflated cost of a gallon of gas
- The fractured ankle I was still healing from
- The possibility of car trouble in the middle of nowhere.
- The possibility of getting really sick far from home. COVID was still a thing, after all, and I’d be visiting A LOT of people.
- The thought of getting less work done while I was away, despite this being a “working vacation.”
- The EXPENSE! Three weeks of food, lodging and travel ain’t cheap.
I could have reasonably found more and more reasons.
But I’ve let endless reasons smother my enthusiasm and shut me out of doing what I wanted to do on so many dang occasions, that I decided to make this time different…
This time, I let the voice trying to talk me out of going have its soapbox, but after I listened, I pressed on down the country road toward the interstate.
I packed up my car and put South Dakota in my rearview for a few weeks. I saw countless sights I would have otherwise missed along endless highways, visited many beloved friends and family members, walked on ocean beaches for the first time since February of 2020. I returned home with my heart full, soul renewed and mind refocused.
I’ve spent a lifetime slowly learning that we have two options when it comes to the lives we most wish to lead:
- We can reason ourselves out of them. OR
- We can risk actually living them.

JASON FREEMAN is a Professional Speaker and the proud owner of a Speech Impediment. He is also the author of “Awkwardly Awesome: Embracing My Imperfect Best” and a Perseverance Coach.
He excites and encourages his audience to break through the barriers of their own limitations using a method he created, called “Doing your Imperfect Best ™”.
His Imperfect TEDx Talk can be viewed here.
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