“It’s been done before. It already exists.
But it hasn’t been done by you.”
This is a lesson from a lived experience, not a universal prescription.
Imagine being jolted by an idea that, in that very instance, filled you with elation. Like a chorus of Hallelujahs reverberating in your head.
It may have come to you mid-walk or in passive boredom while lying in bed.
For a split second, you feel that sense of purpose emerging. You finally have your why.
But then a dark cloud descends.
Thoughts of doubt and challenged audacity creep in.
You may have told yourself that you weren’t deserving. You weren’t the author to write this story. Or that it had already been done before.
And so you let it go. What was found now is lost.
And the cruel irony? The idea wasn’t new, just revisited.
I have lived many versions of this story, like a courtroom cross-examination.
What makes you deserving?
What makes you the chosen?
It’s already been done before.
Others are doing it as you speak.
There is nothing of value here.
You need to come to terms with the truth.
So what is the truth?
The truth is that we live in contradiction.
Up close, we are the headline actors, the kings and queens of the world. But if you pull further out, we are nothing more than extras. Both significant and insignificant.
Yet we exist. And because we exist, we are worthy of taking up space on the grand stage.
Regardless of whether it has been done before, we carry unique fingerprints from personal lived experiences that no courtroom can challenge.
Ideas, over time, transform from novelty into the reimagined. It’s never about the originality of the idea, but the messenger who carries it.
“The how and who matter more than the what,” argued Pepsi to Coca-Cola.
So may this resonate with you:
Even if it has been done before, all you need is your permission.
And if others can dare to carve out space, then you can too, exploring all aspects of your strengths, capacities, and curiosities in the ways only you can.
For whatever time we may have left among the living, the responsibility is an opportunity that awaits.
