The cost of half a shop

A woman sews bags at home and sells a few through a page on her phone. She has done this for two years. She posts when she remembers, answers messages a day late, and has never decided whether this is a business or a hobby.

It looks like the safe position. She has not quit anything, has not borrowed anything, has not told anyone it is her plan. Nothing can fail, because nothing has really started.

But the fence is not a comfortable place to sit. Every week she carries the same questions. Should she buy the better machine? Should she photograph the new colours properly? Should she stop? The page sits there half alive, asking for attention it never quite gets, and the people who find it can feel the hesitation in the gaps between posts.

Committing would cost her something. So would walking away. Both costs are finite. They are paid once, and then the energy goes somewhere.

Staying undecided costs a little every day, without end, and buys nothing. It is the most expensive option precisely because it looks free.

Most of us have a fence like this. A course half started, a shop half opened, a friendship we neither tend nor end.

Pick a side. Either one will teach you more than the fence ever will.