The Detour Called Self-Doubt doesn't announce itself. It doesn't put up a sign or flash a warning light. It just quietly redirects you and before you know it you're sitting on the hood of your car at a gas station just off the highway staring at your phone like the answer is in there somewhere.

I pulled off for fuel on a stretch of road that doesn't offer a lot of options. There was one other car at the pumps. A man, maybe mid-forties, sitting on his hood with his phone in both hands and the look of someone who had been there a while. Not lost. Not broken down. Just stopped. He was on his way to the job interview he had been working toward for two years. He had driven three hours that morning to get there. And now he was sitting in the Mojave Desert talking himself out of it.

That's the thing about self-doubt that nobody warns you about. It doesn't show up when you're unprepared. It shows up when you're ready. The ones who make it three hours down the road and then stop are the ones who wanted it badly enough to get there. Self-doubt is not the enemy of readiness. It's the proof of it. This week's Roadside Notes is for anyone sitting on the hood of their life right now waiting for permission. Get back in the car. Finish the drive. The road already knew you were ready.

📖 Read the full Journal entry: https://faithandgoodcourage.com/2026/08/06/the-detour-called-self-doubt/

🎙️ Roadside Notes is a reading series from the Faith and Good Courage Journal, stories of grace, grit, and second chances written and read by Christopher Tuttle, The Route 66 Chaplain.

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