The quote that passed
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Said by Oscar Wilde, in The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Oscar Wilde got thrown in a Victorian prison for fucking who he wanted, and he still lived harder in one weekend than most of you will in your whole miserable, Costco-membership life.
The man was a walking middle finger in a velvet coat. You can't even send back a cold burger without rehearsing it in your head 3 times and then eating the fucking thing anyway.
Look at yourself. You're not living, you're buffering. You're a 38-year-old houseplant with a car payment. You've been "about to start" so long your dreams have filed for divorce and taken the dog. Your entire personality is a Netflix queue and some strong opinions about airport parking. If your life were a porn, it'd be 40 minutes of the plumber talking about his pension.
And the excuses, Jesus Christ. "I'm not ready." Nobody's ready, dipshit. Your parents weren't ready, and that's why you're like this. "I don't want to fail." Buddy, you're already failing, you're just doing it quietly, in sweatpants, so nobody notices. At least the guy who swings and misses gets a story. You're gonna get a eulogy that says "he was very reliable about recycling."
Your move
So today, do the thing that makes your stomach drop and your asshole slam shut like a bank vault. Send the text. Quit the bullshit. Ask for the money. Say the true thing to the person's face. If you're not scared shitless, it's not the thing, it's a chore. Wilde died broke in a Paris hotel, cracking jokes about the wallpaper. You're scared of a group chat.