Start, Even If You Don’t Feel Ready

By Karima O’Keefe | November 2025

Transformation happens while you walk.

For a long time, I believed I had to feel ready before starting. That I needed more preparation, more confidence, or more perfection before taking the step.

But over time, I understood something profound:

If I waited to feel ready, I would never start.

Throughout my life, I’ve applied for jobs I didn’t feel fully prepared for. I’ve launched projects without knowing if they would work. I’ve made decisions without having all the answers, and still… I did it.

Because I learned that real preparation happens while you walk, not while you wait. The “ready” version of myself doesn’t appear before the step, she appears as I take it forward.

Many people don’t pursue their dreams because they’re afraid, afraid of being judged, afraid of making mistakes, afraid someone might say it wasn’t perfect, or that something was missing.

But how could it be perfect if you’re just getting started?

We aren’t born knowing. We grow by practicing. That means making mistakes, adjusting, trying again, and learning to treat ourselves with compassion along the way.

When I was learning English, people didn’t always understand me. I mispronounced words, stumbled over sentences, and felt embarrassed. Sometimes, people corrected me impatiently, and still… I kept speaking.

If I hadn’t started, I never would have learned, and that experience marked my life forever: I don’t need to be ready to begin.

I only need faith that I can do it, patience to keep learning, and the discipline and determination to finish what I start, even if the path isn’t perfect.

It’s not about jumping without direction. It’s about preparing, studying, improving, and learning from the results. But don’t use preparation as an excuse to stay still.

Start, even if you don’t feel ready, learn along the way. Change, grow, but keep going.

The path will show you what you need to know, when you’re ready to see it.

Today, I understand that what moves me forward is not perfection, but alignment with what I believe, presence in every step, and the fulfillment of enjoying the process.

“I don’t wait to feel ready, I do it afraid, I do it doubting…but I do it, and I learn as I walk.”

If you’re reading this and still waiting to feel ready before taking that step…I invite you to do it now.

With fear, with doubt, with trembling hands, but do it.

Because the person you’ll discover along the way is worth far more than the one who stayed waiting.

I don’t seek perfection, I seek alignment, presence, and wholeness.