These floral shoes changed my life 🌸

One of the most important mindsets I’ve developed in the last couple of years has been that of doing what scares me.

You know, when an opportunity is presented in front of you, and you feel that twitch? That sinking feeling in your heart, not unlike the one you get before a rollercoaster? Does your mouth start to feel a little dry? That’s your cue to just go do it.

It all started seven years ago —

When I was in my undergrad, I decided that I wanted to be a more charismatic and confident person.

We were learning about improvisation in English class, and the teacher asked if anyone was willing to go first. I forced my hand up without even thinking. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and I made others in the class more comfortable to try after me.

This percolated into my sense of style as well – I found these really unique Vans shoes, which were essentially light blue with pink flowers on them. I bought them and wore them everywhere, against all the advice I got from others. More than a fashion statement, they were a confidence statement. To myself.

Most people loved the shoes and loved my confidence. Some people found them “gay”. The shoes let me know who those people were 😉

My floral shoes from college.

Since then —

I’ve gone to a rock festival in Belgium all by myself at 19, showed up at countless concerts and events all by myself and just embraced the awkwardness and made friends there, joined an improv comedy class in Los Angeles, showed up at a Chinese New Year dinner meet-up in Paris not knowing anyone at all and made a good friend there, and just generally developed a mindset of screw it, let’s do it.

The key is — if it scares you, then you need to do it. (Not in a life-threatening situation, of course.)

When you make a habit of doing things that make you twitch, it becomes natural to not think so much. And that’s when you unlock a whole new world of experiences and opportunities.

Recently —

I did something that scared me. I shared one of my rap songs from 9 years ago on my YouTube and with my network, for everyone to see. What would people think?

I made a rap song about Bangalore.

Thanks for reading —

What are your stories of doing things that scare you? Hit reply to this email and let me know your thoughts.

— Mayank