The Wisdom of Avocados

The other week I came across an Instagram post by poet Andrea Gibson:

Dear Overripe Avocado,
Thank you for reminding me 
there is such a thing as 
waiting too long to be ready.

This resonated with me pretty deeply.  It made me stop and think about the number of times I have held back or second-guessed myself regarding a new hobby, challenge or adventure based upon a question of readiness.  

When you stop and think about it, are we EVER ready for most of the things that life brings us?  How would we really know if we were ready and what would determine being ready?  Is it all about success or the end product or outcome?  Feels a bit empty if those are truly the only parts of the equation that are meaningful.

The hard part about this question comes with the realization that going into something before you actually are ready can feel mighty uncomfortable.  There is definitely a fine line between being under prepared and being "ready".  I will admit I have erred on the wrong side of that one before and although it doesn't feel great, it does provide the basis for learning and growth that you would completely miss out upon by sitting on the sidelines.  I'll take the discomfort of learning over the comfort of stagnation any day.  

Back to those overripe avocados for a moment.  What happens if we do decide to do the work, to get prepared and set a goal for ourselves but never feel like we are quite "there" yet?  How long do we keep at it, honing our skill and working towards readiness before we lose interest and start to soften like our avocado friends?  This is where waiting too long comes into play.  Our minds like to protect us from physical or emotional discomfort and part of that protection can manifest in the message that maybe the goal we set was a bit too much, and maybe we are better off just letting it go and chalking things up to a learning experience while we settle back into our comfort zone.  But this is not where growth occurs.  

Where I am starting to find myself these days is in a more non-attached mindset:  learning to appreciate the journey without attachment to the outcome.  What this does for me is allows me to set goals and work towards them without being solely focused on the end result.  By letting go of that, I can reset my measure of achievement by simply DOING the thing instead of doing it to X%.   This is a work in progress, and one that will likely be on my list of life lessons that I grapple with for the foreseeable future.  It is also one that is allowing me to live a bigger life and experience a wider variety of firsts that never would be available to me if I was focused on waiting until I was ready.