I just got back from seeing Ballerina, the newest film in the John Wick universe, and let me just say it was everything you want from a John Wick movie. The premise of these films (and the world they inhabit) is absolutely ridiculous. But they’re just… so… much… fun to watch.

Ballerina lives up to the hype. No, it’s not as good as the core John Wick entries, but it’s a respectable addition to the franchise. Leading up to the movie, the biggest criticism I saw—mostly from guys online (more like incels, but I digress)—was the classic complaint: “Oh great, another movie where a 90-pound woman beats up grown men.”

But the film actually handles that trope really well. A good chunk of the movie is dedicated to showing her training. She’s no “Mary Sue” like Rey from Star Wars. And when she goes up against a massive opponent, she loses in terms of brute strength every time. But she finds a way to win. Not by overpowering them but by outsmarting them. Fighting dirty. Using what she’s got. Early on, the movie makes it clear: she has to “fight like a girl.” That’s her advantage.

If you’re looking for a fun action flick, this one is absolutely worth the ticket. And the climax? It’s a full-blown spectacle. Pure, chaotic, beautifully choreographed fun.

What really stuck with me, though, wasn’t the action—it was a line near the beginning of the movie. MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD. If you don’t want to be spoiled, maybe come back to this post later.

Ana de Armas’ character, Eve, has just lost her father. Most of the first act shows her training. At one point, she asks if they think she’s ready to fight. The response is basically: “Not yet, but someday.” (I’m paraphrasing, and possibly butchering the quote, but it’s the phrase that struck me—not the exact wording.)

That line landed hard. It echoed something deep in me.

When I was younger, I had a lot of dreams. I used to talk about how I wanted to travel. How I’d be a published author someday. And then life happened. Debt piled up. I had two kids who needed me. And suddenly, those dreams got pushed aside.

It’s wild how fast your goals get put on the shelf when real life starts knocking. When you’re young, it’s easy to say “someday.” You feel like you’ve got all the time in the world. But something shifts as you get older. You become more aware—painfully aware—of how little time you might actually have.

When you’re 16, time feels infinite. We waste it because we assume we’ll live to 80 and have decades to figure things out. But each year that passes raises the stakes. You start to notice how fast it all moves.

When I was younger, I hated standard time. Those dark winter months dragged on forever. I’d count the days until we could spring forward again and get back that extra daylight. But now? I don’t do that anymore. I’ve come to see each day I wish away as a day I’ll never get back. A day closer to the end.

At some point, I realized I didn’t have the luxury of fast-forwarding through life. And once I accepted that, I started to appreciate the darker days. They actually became… peaceful. Almost comforting. I realized that most of my dislike for them had always been in my head. I was unhappy because I chose to be. Because I wasn’t grounded in the present.

And that brings me back to the phrase: Not yet, but someday.

Say it again, but pause in the middle: Not yet… but someday.

That pause holds everything. All the experience. All the effort. The struggle. The dailiness of life. It’s the work, the waiting, the showing up. That’s where change happens.

I recently downloaded Duolingo and started relearning Spanish. I took two years of it in high school but forgot almost all of it. Now, I’m going back—slowly. Vocabulary. Grammar. Structure. Repetition. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Can I speak Spanish fluently?
Not yet.
But someday.

And that’s the mindset I want to leave you with. What if, instead of saying, “I can’t do that,” you started saying, “I can’t do that… yet”?

Because the truth is, the only thing standing between you and what you want is the work it takes to get there. So why are you putting it off? Why are you letting time pass while you stay stuck?

Mary Oliver asked it beautifully: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Are you going to stay in the same job forever, convincing yourself you’re trapped? Are you going to keep telling yourself why you can’t instead of asking how you could?

I once worked with a guy who had the same job title as me, but no civil engineering degree. Because of that, he made significantly less. He had a four-year degree, though, and eventually realized that if he took just ten more classes, he could get the degree and the raise that came with it.

I used to encourage him. Push him. Remind him that even if it took ten years, those ten years would pass anyway. Wouldn’t he rather spend them working toward something?

He never took a single class. That was fifteen years ago. He could’ve been an engineer for five years by now. But he’s not. He’s doing okay—but not nearly as well as he could be.

And that’s the takeaway: time is going to pass, whether you move or not. Whether you try or not.

So next time you tell yourself you’re not qualified, or not ready, or not talented enough—just stop.

And say instead:
Not yet.
But someday.