The Lie We Keep Telling Ourselves

There's a version of life we all want.

One where we know exactly how things are going to turn out. Where the path is clear, the outcome is guaranteed, and we don't have to sit with that uncomfortable knot in our stomach wondering what if.

We want certainty. All of us. It's not a weakness. It's wired into us. Our brains are literally designed to predict, pattern-match, and eliminate unknowns. Uncertainty registers in the same part of the brain as physical pain. That's not a metaphor. That's biology.

So no, you're not weak for wanting to know how it ends. You're human.

But here's where it gets interesting.

I didn't know I was going to play.

When I was at Tulane, legally blind, I had zero certainty about how it would go. I couldn't see the field clearly. I couldn't see the scoreboard. Half the time I couldn't see the guy I was supposed to snap the ball to.

What I did have was the decision to show up anyway.

And that's the thing about certainty. We treat it like a prerequisite. Like we need it before we can act. We wait to feel ready. We wait for the outcome to be guaranteed. We wait until the risk feels manageable.

But certainty almost never comes before the move.
It comes after.

What Uncertainty Actually Means

Here's what I've learned about uncertainty, both on the field and off it.

Uncertainty means you're in new territory. And new territory is the only place growth lives. If you're totally comfortable, totally sure, totally safe, you're probably not moving forward. You're just managing.

The discomfort is the signal, not the stop sign. That knot in your stomach when you're about to do something hard? That's not your body telling you to quit. That's your body telling you this matters.

Waiting for certainty is just fear with better branding. We call it being strategic or realistic or not ready yet. Sometimes that's true. But a lot of the time we're just scared.

And that's okay as long as we're honest about it.

The Truth About Moving Anyway

I'm not going to tell you to embrace uncertainty like it's some fun adventure. That's not real.

Uncertainty can be brutal. It can keep you up at night. It can make you second-guess everything you thought you knew about yourself.

But it also means you're alive. It means you're in the game. It means the outcome isn't written yet, which means you still have a say in it.

The people who do something worth talking about are never the ones who had it figured out. They're the ones who moved anyway.

So whatever you're sitting on right now, whatever decision you've been waiting to feel certain about, maybe the certainty isn't coming. Maybe this is it.

Maybe the move is to go.

Aaron

Dates I have open in different cities.

April 7th–9th: Los Angeles, CA
April 14th–15th: Chicago, IL
April 17th: Washington, D.C.
April 21st & 22nd: Toronto
April 23rd & 27th: Boston, MA
April 29th & 30th: Los Angeles, CA