tl;dr: A software engineer recounts the many excuses he invented over years to avoid getting his EMT certification—ranging from legitimate concerns about EMS culture and cost to increasingly flimsy rationalizations—before finally taking a 28-day Wilderness EMT course in 2024. His core takeaway: the real reason for the delay was fear of doing something scary and new, and most "reasons not to do it" were just excuses. He now volunteers on an ambulance while keeping his tech job, and encourages others stuck in analysis paralysis to just try the thing.