I would argue to say it draws you closer to God. And that probably sounds really weird and wrong at first glance. No, Iโm not saying itโs in the Bible or God has told us to not get education, or training, or experience. I AM saying every human has had to adopt this motto at some point or another to get THROUGH something and continue forward– and not become stagnant–because none of us have ALL of the answers. So let me explain.
Is “fake it till you make it” bad advice, a convenience, or something that ACTUALLY gets us through?
I canโt count the number of times people have said this to me as advice or a temporary solution for the unknown. I think for some people it provides a level of comfort within ignorance, reassuring them: โOh, I can just pretend I have it figured out and chances are, everything will be fine.โ (that approach seems a little extreme in my opinion and not exactly the angle Iโm taking as an ultimate way to live).
I WANTED to feel that settling from this phrase. I wanted to feel like I could temporarily sweep my lack of knowledge under the rug because that’s what someone ELSE told me to do. But I felt more like: I cannot โfakeโ anything. I donโt do fake. I canโt deceive people to think Iโm something Iโm not and then also reap the BENEFIT of being a fraud.ย
The result: I wouldnโt try or participate in anything that I wasnโt TRULY knowledgeable of or qualified for. I felt too uncomfortable to jump into something knew or give myself any title I wasn’t deserving of. That left me with….a whole lot of nothin.
**When you have to be an expert at everything to even take the first step, you’ll find that you limit your options in life to….a bunch of logical paths and about zero dreams.
Whether we want to admit it or not, all of us have “faked” MOST of anything we’ve done that was actually WORTH doing.
Now being in my mid twenties, Iโve realized that Iโve literally โfakedโ everything Iโve ever doneโ because everything you do is NEW the first time you do it. (If you’ve never had to fake it…maybe you’ve never had the courage to try a lot of priceless experiences…)
I faked calm self-composure on probably every date I had ever been on.
I faked knowing how to move clear across the country.ย
I sometimes fake it when Iโm being โconfidentโ in striking up conversations.
I faked knowing how to start this blog or even write blog posts! (Sorry. Hope you donโt feel betrayed.)
Does this mean you have to pick between being “a fake” or being a dud?
Nope. I’m going to tell you what I feel this phrase “fake it till you make it” can really mean in your life and what it can do for you. And before you beat up on yourself, the reality is this: should you expect yourself to know how to navigate new things before ever learning them?ย
If not, does that mean every first time doing something, you’re doing it as a phony and a liar?
Iโm sure youโve already said โnoโ in your head because NO ONE would say yes.
Stepping into something new is called TRYING
So how can I do this with God?
The other day I felt God tell me, โTry not to look at โfake it till you make itโ like YOU’RE a fake.โ Okay…then what is it? He said,
โStart believing that when you decide to continue forward with no tutorial, minimal answers, and only partial understanding, what youโre saying is โNone of this can be done successfully or AT ALL if itโs not God doing it. Iโm going to move forward doing what Heโs called me to even if I donโt fully know how โ He does. That officially gives me permission to believe I can walk ahead before I know what the end looks like.โ
When I embark on something that I donโt feel qualified for, I want to tell myself that it is actually 100% okay to โfake it till I make itโ โ but hereโs the twist:
Iโm not going to believe in my own confidence and abilities.ย Iโm believing that where I lack, Heโll fill in. Heโll show up.ย
Take a first-time mom for example:
Look at a first-time mom. She’s up every hour of the night. She’s confused when the baby won’t eat, or is continuously crying, or looks a funny color. She’s PRAYING to know what to do because she loves this human more than she can express.
No one looks at her fighting to figure out the answers and thinks, โWell, they should know what theyโre doing. If they donโt the answers then they shouldnโt have become parents.โย
No. She isnโt โbeing a fake momโ because she doesnโt know what she’s doing. She is a mom. She is a parent. No one would argue with that and that is the title she gets to carry proudly on her journey to discovering the answers. But her only way to do that is to have the baby– is to do the new thing.
She’s saying, โIโm going to do my best even without answers because this is for something BIGGER than me. Iโm going to ask the Lord for each next step. Iโm going to pray for answers and direction.โย
All the while, she is 1 trillion percent a parent.ย
But, she is a parent relying on what He can do, not what she can do.
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