You don’t need everyone to vote yes on your life. You only need one: yours.

Trying to get unanimous approval for a life means handing a veto to everybody with an opinion, and somebody always has one. Waiting for the last holdout is how people end up in a version of their life that satisfies a committee and nobody in particular. The vote that decides it was always going to be yours.

Notice whose approval you are genuinely waiting on. Usually it narrows to one or two people, and sometimes to a version of them in your head that is harsher than the real one. Ask what you would do if that yes never arrived.