From the Front Porch
How old are you right now?
40? 45? 50?
Do the math with me.
If you live to 80, you have about 14,600 days left. Maybe more. Probably less.
Subtract the days you'll spend sleeping. The days you'll spend sick. The days you'll spend too tired to do anything that matters.
You're looking at maybe 10,000 usable days. If you're lucky.
How many of those have you already spent thinking about the thing you admitted yesterday?
Bronnie Ware was a palliative care nurse. She sat with dying people and asked them about their regrets.
The #1 regret wasn't about what they did wrong.
It was this: "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me."
They had decades to do what they wanted. They waited until they had weeks.
You think that won't be you.
They thought that too.
They thought they had time. They thought "someday" was real. They thought waiting would make it easier.
Then they turned 50. Then 60. Then 70.
Then they were sitting in a hospice bed telling a nurse they wished they'd been braver.
You're not waiting for the right time. There is no right time.
You're waiting to feel ready. You'll never feel ready.
You're waiting for permission. No one's going to give it to you.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking.
Every day you wait is a day you don't get back. Not metaphorically. Literally.
You have fewer days left than you think. And you're spending them thinking about the thing you're too scared to start.
That's not patience. That's not being smart.
That's just expensive.
A Hard Truth
Waiting doesn't make it easier.
It makes it harder.
Because every day you wait, you collect more evidence for why you shouldn't start.
More reasons it won't work. More proof you're not qualified. More examples of people already doing it better.
You think you're being careful. You're building a case against yourself.
And here's the part that stings: While you're waiting, someone else is starting. Someone less qualified. Someone more scared. Someone who doesn't have it figured out.
They're not braver than you. They're just more afraid of dying with it still inside them than they are of failing.
You have 10,000 days left. Maybe.
How many more are you going to spend building the case for why you shouldn't?
Today's Shift
The Cost Calculator:
Step 1: Do the Math
How long have you been thinking about this thing?
Six months? A year? Two years?
Write down the number of days. Be specific.
That's how many days you've already spent waiting. You don't get those back.
Step 2: Project Forward
If you keep waiting, how much longer will you wait?
Until you feel ready? (You won't.)
Until the timing is perfect? (It won't be.)
Until you're not scared? (You'll always be scared.)
Write down how much longer you think you'll wait. Then double it. That's closer to the truth.
Step 3: Face the Real Cost
It's not just your days.
It's the people who need what you have and don't have it yet.
It's the version of yourself you'll never become if you don't start.
It's the deathbed regret you're building one "not yet" at a time.
You can't get the days back. But you can stop wasting the ones you have left.
What's Next
Tomorrow: The Fear of Wanting - You know what you want. You know what waiting costs. So why does admitting you want it feel more dangerous than staying stuck? That's what we're facing tomorrow.
Bottom Line
Bronnie Ware's patients didn't fail because they tried and it didn't work.
They failed because they never tried.
You have 10,000 days left. Maybe less.
Don't be one of them.
— Damien
