Draw The Map

Jamal sat at his desk, staring at the blank page in front of him. His fingers hovered over the pen, but he didn’t move. Not yet.

He had told himself he needed clarity. That was the reason he hadn’t started. That’s what he told his friends when they asked why he was still stuck. “I just need to figure things out,” he’d say with a shrug. They’d nod, offer a few words of encouragement, and move on.

But Jamal knew the truth.

Clarity wasn’t the issue. He knew exactly what he had to do. He knew the risks. He knew the steps. He had rehearsed them in his mind a hundred times.

It was fear.

Fear was what kept him glued to his chair, scrolling mindlessly, making excuses, pushing deadlines. Fear whispered that he wasn’t ready. That if he tried and failed, people would see him for what he was—an imposter, a fool for even thinking he could make it.

He exhaled sharply, pressing his palms into the desk. He needed to break out of this. He reached for his notebook and flipped to a fresh page.

Write it down.

That’s what his mentor had told him. “Fear is the key,” she had said. “The very thing you're avoiding is the thing you need to face.”

Jamal took a deep breath and wrote:

Where am I? Stuck.

Where do I need to be? Doing the work.

What needs to be done? Stop waiting. Start moving.

It felt stupidly simple. But the moment the words hit the page, the weight in his chest loosened, just a little. He kept writing. Every doubt. Every fear. Every excuse he had ever made for himself. He emptied his mind, laid it all out in ink.

And then, something shifted.

His fear wasn’t a wall anymore. It was a door.

And for the first time, he reached for the handle.