This week, I saw Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and I have not stopped thinking about the ambition behind it.

Nolan did not just want to retell an ancient story. He wanted us to feel the size of it. The ocean, the fear, the loneliness, and the impossible distance between where Odysseus was and where he was trying to go.

He wanted to make the entire movie in IMAX, but some of the technology he needed did not exist yet.

Most of us would probably hear that and think, “Okay, then I need to make the vision smaller.”

Instead, they created new tools.

That really stayed with me.

I never do that here. I live here, but I don’t experience it. The reason I pushed How many times have I confused “I don’t know how to do this” with “This cannot be done”?

When I opened my first restaurant, I did not know how to open a restaurant.

When my mom and I opened an Indian restaurant together, I did not know whether people in a small Texas town would understand what we were trying to create.

Would they try the food?

Would they know how to pronounce anything on the menu?

Would they trust a mom-and-daughter kitchen serving recipes my mom had spent her whole life making?

Would “Namaste, y’all” make sense to anyone other than us?

And honestly, there are still days when I look at the visions I have for my life and feel a little embarrassed by how big they are.

And honestly, there are still days when I look at the visions I have for my life and feel a little embarrassed by how big they are.

Some dreams feel safe to say out loud.

Other dreams make you feel exposed. Because once you tell people what you are trying to build, they also get to watch you fail.

I think that is one of the hardest parts of pursuing something that feels impossible.

You have to keep believing in it before there is any real evidence that you should.

It reminded me of Sita’s swayamvara in the Ramayana.

King after king stepped forward and tried to lift the bow. These were powerful men who had probably spent their entire lives being told what they were capable of.

Still, none of them could move it.

Then Rama stepped forward and broke it while trying to string it.

I keep thinking about what it takes to approach something that everyone before you has already failed to do.

Odysseus had to keep sailing before he could see home.

Rama had to approach the bow after watching everyone else fail.

Nolan had to believe in the movie before all the tools existed to make it.

And maybe that is the lesson I needed this week.

You do not always get proof before you begin.

Sometimes, beginning is how you create the proof.

I wish I could say I pursue every big idea with complete confidence. I don’t.

I overthink. I question myself. I compare my beginning to someone else’s finished story. Sometimes I try to make the dream smaller, because then failing at it might hurt a little less.

But I am starting to believe that the visions that scare us are not always warnings.

Sometimes, they are invitations.

An invitation to become more disciplined, more patient, more creative, and more willing to keep going when we cannot see exactly how the story ends.

Maybe the question is not, “Do I already know how to do this?”

Maybe it is, “Am I willing to become the person who can?”

The tools may not exist yet.

The way home may not be clear.

The bow may look impossible to lift.

Try anyway

Love,

Rashmi