Every once in a while, a single line from a song refuses to leave me alone.
For years, it’s been this one by Paul Simon:
“You know the nearer your destination, the more you’re slip slidin’ away.”
I’ve wondered about that line more times than I can count.
The Closer We Get, the More We Slip Away
Because I think he’s describing something almost all of us have experienced.
The closer we get to something that truly matters…
The more our own self-sabotaging mechanisms seem to kick in.
It’s strange.
You would think confidence would grow as the finish line comes into view.
Instead…
We procrastinate.
We overthink.
We suddenly become busy with everything except the one thing that brought us this far.
We begin questioning ourselves.
Questioning the timing.
Questioning the dream.
Sometimes we even question whether we wanted it in the first place.
Why Arriving Can Frighten Us
I’ve often wondered why.
Perhaps because arriving changes us.
And change, even when we long for it, can be frightening.
There is something strangely comforting about standing just before the threshold.
As long as we haven’t crossed it, everything remains possible.
Success is still possible.
Failure is still possible.
The dream is still untouched.
Cross the threshold…
And possibility becomes reality.
Reality asks something of us.
Responsibility.
Visibility.
Commitment.
There is no longer a dream to protect.
There is only a life to live.
Walking Toward Something That Matters
Maybe that’s why fear grows louder the closer we get.
Not because we’re walking in the wrong direction.
But because we’re finally walking toward something that matters.
I’ve seen this happen in my own life more than once.
Just before making an important decision.
Just before beginning something new.
Just before taking a leap I knew I wanted to take.
How Fear Disguises Itself
That’s often when the excuses became most convincing.
Not because they were true.
Because fear is remarkably creative.
It knows exactly how to disguise itself.
Sometimes as logic.
Sometimes as perfectionism.
Sometimes as “not yet.”
Sometimes as one more reason to wait.
Self-Sabotage, or Fear in Disguise?
I don’t know if self-sabotage is always the right name for it.
Sometimes I wonder if it’s simply fear, trying one last time to keep us where everything is still familiar.
Some will say it’s ego.
Where nothing has to change.
Where we don’t have to discover who we might become.
Closer Than I Think
I still catch myself there from time to time.
Standing at the edge.
One foot ready to move.
The other quietly negotiating with fear.
Whenever that happens, Paul Simon’s words come back to me.
“The nearer your destination… the more you’re slip slidin’ away.”
And every time I hear them, I smile.
Because recognizing the pattern doesn’t make me immune to it.
But it does remind me that perhaps I’m closer than I think.
With curiosity and an open heart.
