Don’t Let the “How” Stop You

by Haley DeGreve

There was an ice storm. Every media outlet was calling me. My heart was pounding.

"No one is going to show up. This was a mistake, what was I thinking?" I said as my mind spun.

He looked at me and muttered, "But you didn't do this for no one, you did this for one. When did the 'how' stop you?"

There was only one time in my life that I followed my gut without any doubts, fears, or anxieties. This was it.

It was February 5th of 2019 -- almost a year ago. My good friend (Kevin Donovan) and I spent the past five weeks preparing for a quick launch of a completely unique, much needed campaign at our college.

The Gray Matters is a mental health campaign/movement that started as an idea in our campus coffee shop. At the time, I had no idea what I was getting myself into or what I was doing (to be honest, I still don't). However, I could feel in my gut that something had to be done. I didn't necessarily know what and I didn't know how, but we were going to make mental health a priority on campus.

So, we took a step. We didn't even consider the how, we just trusted our idea would work. By using Kevin's photography skills and my marketing techniques, we created something beautiful. We created a platform for people's voices to be heard in a new community: one of hope and healing.

On February 5th, I didn't see that. It was our campaign kickoff event -- the first time the campus would see, hear, and understand what The Gray Matters is about. It was 30 minutes before the event started and no one was there. All media outlets cancelled on us because of the surprise snowstorm making its way through the area. I was disheartened because I knew if media wasn't coming, there was no way students would walk from their cozy dorms, in an ICE STORM, to an unknown mental health event on campus.

But then I was wrong. Before I knew it, hundreds (yes, HUNDREDS) of students piled in. So many that we actually ran out of seats.

And just like that, The Gray Matters was born. A movement that has tripled in size in less than a year. A movement that has amplified the conversation about mental health and suicide on campus. A movement that has given hope and provided space for those hurting.

Like I said, I didn't expect it. I was so entrenched in the process of the "how" that I lost sight of the "why". In that, I lost confidence in myself and my ability to make meaningful change. Yet, it worked and it's still going.

This movement changed lives -- including mine -- in the best way possible. All we had to do was take the first step and beautiful things happened.

Take that first step today. Start that blog, tell that person you love them, run that 5k, start that business, apply for that job. You never know what could happen.

Just don't let the "how" stop you.