Take your first step.

No one but you are the biggest influence in your life. You own it. You always had, and will have a choice. So, get-up, step out of your old shoes, and sing to you heart!

You’ve always thought about it. It has been there in you, for quite some time. No matter where you go, what you do, the feeling is inseparable.

What do you really wish for? To swim a river, travel across the world, write a book, work at your dream company, to be an entrepreneur, to learn music. Whatever it be, just take your first step.

This is the very moment that you have in hand and that you’re sure of. This is the day, when you can get over your inhibitions and take a leap. Do whatever it takes — book a flight to your favorite place, sign up for that music class, go old school, grab a pen & write down your first story, send out that letter, make that phone call, make your move. Take your first step.

Stop convincing yourself that it’s not the ideal time to start. Because there is never going to be a perfect time to begin. Time is right, when you choose to get up, believe in your dreams because they are there for a reason, and decide to push yourself, because no one else is going do it for you. The only distance between what you think of and reality, is your actions. So don’t just wish, take your first step.

It doesn’t matter if you aren’t fully-prepared, or haven’t chalked out a fool-proof plan to execute; what matters is your will. Let your faith be stronger than your fear. Take your first step, and as you move along, you will discover ways and means to reach your destination.

You will always have choice, either to step forward, out of your comfort zone, or to sit back, receding in self-doubt. Nothing can stop you from getting what you want, except your own insecurities. So, stop giving yourself excuses, and dare to take your first step.

You may be skeptical at first or think what if it doesn’t work out. But isn’t the journey that’s more important than the destination, because there is so much more that lies between the two? It is about the struggles, times when you laugh, when you cry, when you fall and get up on your own, when you run away from things and then circle back to them, when you learn how to do a thing, and also thousands of ways not do the same. That’s when you grow, and irrespective of the fact if you win or lose, flounder or flourish, you will be able to find yourself.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

— Mark Twain