“FIRST, THE FROG” by Indi Amelie Tejeda
My father said
eat the frog first.
Before the sun has a say.
Before the world starts handing out opinions.
He left before dawn.
He did not wait to be inspired.
Eat it first, he said,
because discipline is quieter than talent
and louder than doubt.
The frog is the thing
I would rather avoid.
The page.
The run.
The call.
The weight.
It waits at the edge of morning
Ugly.
Necessary.
Cold.
No one else is in the room.
That’s the point.
There is no applause for starting.
No witness for effort.
No medal for choosing the harder route
when no one would know the difference.
Eat it first.
Not because it is dramatic.
Not because it makes a story.
Because I am tired
of negotiating with myself.
Because I want to trust
the person I am becoming.
I have disappointed myself before.
The frog resists.
Good.
So do I.
I finish the hardest thing
before excuses learn my name.
I build evidence.
Not for them.
For me.
By noon
there is a quiet inside my chest
that wasn’t there before.
Not pride.
Not relief.
Certainty.
The kind that only comes
from keeping your own promises.
My father said
eat the frog first.
I thought it was about productivity.
It isn’t.
It’s about becoming someone
who doesn’t flinch
when no one is watching.
Eat the frog.
Then begin.