Sometimes we simply need to “do the thing.”

I often feel like the phrase “bite off more than you can chew” was invented specifically for me.

Anyone who knows me is aware that I rarely have just one thing going on, whether a work project or hobby. For instance, I started last year with nine projects on my docket. By the end of the year, I had whittled that down to one, which was still plenty of work. And when I was deep in the throes of being a hobbyist, I accumulated quite a collection of beading, paper crafting, cross-stitching, and watercolor painting supplies.

In my present season, I’m a busy pastor’s wife, mother, writer, and editor. But I’ve been feeling more called to grow and develop my own author career, particularly since publishing my first book last year.

While I could be focusing on things I already know how to do—like writing my next book—I had a great idea: I’ll launch a YouTube channel! That will be a wonderful way to connect to more people and introduce them to my book content.

Like many of my great ideas and the enthusiasm I have for them, I overlooked a couple of things:

1. I can’t stand to hear or see myself on video, and it makes me anxious.
2. I have no idea how to create and upload videos, let alone do anything fancy like properly edit them.

For better or worse, my complete lack of knowledge about how to do something has never stopped me before. I’ve generally been a “learn as you go” kind of person.

In January, I announced the YouTube channel to my newsletter subscribers. I’d planned to have everything up and running prior to Lent. However, in the days leading up to Ash Wednesday, I was totally bogged down and couldn’t even research what I needed to do to set up and launch the channel, let alone actually do it.

I figured that I could at least set up the channel, so it was ready when I’d created some content. I stuck with my “brand name,” The Word Steward Channel, and one of my wonderful pastor’s wife friends created a banner that aligns with my brand.

In my February newsletter, I had to bashfully tell my subscribers that the channel launch was delayed, mainly because I couldn’t get my act together. Humbling, to say the least.

The past two weeks, I’ve been struggling to produce a 1.5-minute intro video. Recording it took forever, because I kept fiddling with the lighting, camera setup, sound, etc. I also wasn’t sure whether or not to write a script or use a teleprompter. I wanted to sound as natural as possible, but I knew that between my nerves and wandering ADHD brain, winging it probably wasn’t the best option. Script and teleprompter, with some ad-libbing, was probably the safest route.

Reading from a teleprompter feels completely bizarre to me, and it took many tries to get comfortable with it. After what seemed like a gazillion takes, I finally decided that good was good enough—an astonishing concession for my perfectionist self.

A talented and incredibly tech-savvy friend had recommended a free video-editing software to me. As I muddled along with it, I peppered her with questions, all of which she patiently answered.

After several days of monkeying around with the A/V and wanting to throw my computer out the window thanks to PowerPoint, I realized I was WAY out of my element.

Did I need to launch a YouTube channel? No. Had trying to create one short video consume almost two full work weeks of my time? Yes. Would it be faster and easier to just pay someone to slap this thing together? Yes. Was all of this aggravation worth it? I didn’t know, and that remains to be seen.

I share all of this with you, dear reader, because even though I feel overwhelmed and frustrated and have been tempted to punt the whole thing to someone more gifted in this area, I’m determined to learn how to do this.

I feel that if we always wait until we know everything there is to know about how to do something, we’ll never dare set foot on the path. And we’ll never test our abilities and know what we might be capable of.

With the seemingly infinite resources we have at our disposal, we can spend all of our time researching the thing but never doing the thing. (An ADHD coach whose content I’ve watched refers to this as “procrasti-learning.” Very apt!)

Today, I ask you: What is the thing you’ve been putting off, because you don’t feel qualified, don’t feel like you know enough about it, or are just plain scared to do it?

Maybe you want to learn to knit, make sourdough bread, or tile a bathroom floor. Perhaps you’ve wanted to take voice lessons or learn to play a musical instrument. Maybe you’ve longed to write a book or read your poetry at an open-mic night.

Or your “thing” might be relational. Perhaps you have a hard conversation you’ve been putting off, or a letter that lives in your head needs to be put on the page and sent to its intended recipient. Maybe you’ve been thinking about going to therapy to start unpacking trauma or better learn how to manage your anxiety.

Whatever your “thing” is, please drop me a line to tell me, so I can pray for the Lord to clear a way for you to “do the thing,” according to His perfect and gracious will.

Yours in Christ,

Amanda

xoxo