I’ve known this moment was coming…but I had doubts if it would actually happen.

Sitting in Grace’s office, YOU ARE’s local lead in Uganda, and I was about to log onto the nonprofit’s bank account to spend thousands of dollars to purchase land. Land in Uganda, Africa.

What. Is. Life.

When I booked this twelve-day trip, I didn’t know if this would be the trip we would purchase land. To be honest, I found out about the land on Thursday and decided to buy it that same day. It might seem like a rushed decision to you, but to me, it was an opportunity I’ve dreamed about for years. We even had an event that raised money for this land, specifically.

I would say, “Eventually, we would love to purchase land so we can build our own boarding school.”

In my mind, it was something that was always light-years away.

But yet, here I am writing this, a landowner in Uganda.

Even though this idea has been brewing in our hearts and minds for years, when it came down to actually do it, doubts immediately flooded in.

You know the kind of dreams that make you sick? Not literally, but the feelings of anxiety in the pit of your stomach. The wide-eyed looks of “can I really do this” kind of dreams?

Here’s the craziest thing - even though we have been dreaming about this for years, when it came down to the moment to actually do it, thoughts of doubts and “can we really do this” entered my brain.

“This is a lot of money.”

“If this messes up, you will be responsible for it. It will be your mess up.”

“Are you sure this is what you want to do? You’ve never done this before and you have no idea what you are doing.”

Here I am on the brink of a dream come true, and my brain is still telling me “what in the world are you doing?!”

But I know this - because I have studied and teach other women with big dreams of this exact moment…this is what our brains does.

Reflecting on this, it made me think of all the people who do not know this.

It made me think of all the dreams that kept dreaming. Instead of being actualized.

What would our world look like, feel like, if more people still did the scary thing that would create the most impact?

I see our world having more organizations that would serve local communities who are easily overlooked. More opportunities to pass the mic to people whose voice needs to be heard to make a change.

But instead, the creator of the idea doesn’t even pick up the mic. It just sits there, while we stare back at it.

Think of it as a wavelength. Going through the mic, and coming out of the mic. Just like the moment right before purchasing the land, the mic was giving the annoying echoy sound - insert the waves of annoyance surrounding my head and quote bubbles of doubts and situations where my brain is trying to proof that I have failed before.

I am not an AV person, but I have been around a mic or two before. And I know that there are times where that echoy sound does happen, but when you keep speaking, it eventually gradually levels out into something beautiful you were intended to say.

It may be messy at the beginning, but in the continuation of speaking, it becomes beautifully sounded and well-balanced.

When you are a visionary, and see all these problems that you have an idea of a solution for, the idea, just like the mic sitting on the table beside you, will look like it will work, it will look like it’s ready to go.

As soon as you pick up that mic, and the echo starts, you have two decisions:

You can immediately stop speaking and place that mic right back down on the table where you’ve had it for years,

OR

You can keep on speaking. As messy as it sounds at the beginning, it will eventaully level out into saying exactly what you are intended on saying.

Dreams are the same way.

So I want to ask you, what sound is meant to come out of that mic of yours? Or are you even turning the mic on?

After officially purchasing the land, the feelings and thoughts of “what am I doing” kept popping into my head. Thankfully, I knew the importance of working with local leaders before even launching this idea through YOU ARE. And in parts of that, I believe it was part of the echo I wanted to support for that microphone. I’ve done research and many experiences have taught me the systems I wanted to have in place before turning on that microphone.

YOU ARE’s land in Uganda will serve as a safeguard for women and girls, rescuing girls from sexual exploitation, extreme poverty, or abuse. I am already seeing a new set of sounds for this dream. Picture all the flowers and plants around the home. There will be girls who’ve always dreamt of going to school walking across the grounds holding their school books in hand, walking into a classroom taught by a teacher who believes in them, despite the late start of school that they started with.

This land is held and surrounded by people who believe in these girls' beautiful sounds and voices, despite the echoes.

That is what I am creating with my microphone, and I am so glad I picked it up, turned it on, and started speaking.

And if I can, you can too.