Most People Won't

My Twitter friend Jessica, retweeted this post today.

Also, you should definitely subscribe to Jessica’s newsletter.

The tweet was a screen shot of a transcribed interview of Elle Luna. I loved it.

I write my blog for a lot of reasons. Mostly, I write to clear my head. I also write to come to grips with the things I don’t like about myself. Somewhere I heard that when you share an insecurity with someone else, you cut it’s power in half.

Rarely do I talk about things that I’m proud of.

This short essay made me feel proud.

I’m proud that I built up the courage to email Brian Clark. He was my hero, in many ways he still is. It took everything I had. I didn’t mince words, I didn’t blush and act like I was some lowly peasant who wasn’t worthy of his time.

No, I said “I’m Tim. I see you’re working on this website called YourBoulder.com. It doesn’t look like it’s making much progress. I think I can turn a business out of this by making a directory from it.”

He emailed me back and said “let’s talk about this.”

The next week I was business partners with my hero. Over the years he’s become my friend and I was able to buy Copyblogger from him.

It all started from an email that I was scared to send.

I’m proud that I asked my wife to visit me in Florida. My wife and I met through Sober Nation. She had been following the site for a while and had a crush on me, because of my good looks and charm.

We started talking via messenger. Then we Facetimed. Then I asked if she would visit me in Florida.

I thought for sure she would say no. It was an insane thing for me to ask and an insane thing for her to do, but she said yes.

I told her that we could drive down A1A and listen to Summer Friends by Chance the Rapper. I picked her up from the Ft. Lauderdale airport and that’s what we did. We’ve been inseparable ever since.

I’m proud that I learned how to ask for the things that I want.

I never thought I deserved nice things. The truth is, I’m not sure I do now. But I have gotten past the idea of “deserving.”

It doesn’t matter if I deserve something or not. It only matters if I’ve earned it.

And I’ve earned everything I have. Most of all, I’ve earned my relationships, which are what make my life great.

When I read this essay, my first thought was that she was right. Most people won’t take a risk, make themselves vulnerable, risk rejection, risk failure, or risk the sleepless nights filled with shame.

My second thought was that “this person isn’t talking to me.”

Most people won’t, but I will.