Stumbling is Still Moving Forward

Cherry Blossoms for Adrianna

Change, for most people, is scary.  It is often difficult, in the moment, to see any good that comes from it.  When it has just happened, when you’re living in the aftermath and cleaning up the mess, it is really hard to paste a smile on your face and tell yourself that it’s just great.  Usually it’s long down the road that you realize a catastrophe was a blessing in disguise because it led you to something even better. 

Even when change is completely up to you, there are those heart-racing moments.  You may worry that you’re not doing it right.  Or wonder if you will regret leaving something or someone behind.  Who hasn’t left a relationship and had at least some doubts as to whether or not you were making the right decision?  Will you miss that person?  Will you regret it later?  Will it be hard seeing them with someone else?  But then you also have to consider that waiting until things get worse isn’t exactly a great option.

Change, with or without your having put it in motion, can be hard.  But the hardest thing you’ll ever do is trying to keep change at bay.  The less you welcome it, the more it will overwhelm you.  And fighting it, tooth and nail, usually just hurts you more.  Change is inevitable.  Take a deep breath.

From Small Scale to Big Heavy

“A year from now you will wish you had started today.” -Karen Lamb 

Small changes tend to be easy to make.  Changing your daily routine to include more exercise or switching from that latte you order every morning to a nice black tea to cut down your caffeine intake.  Whether slightly painful or slightly joyous, they are a normal part of life.

Big changes tend to be more painful.  In most cases you have to carefully balance the pros and cons, check that your motivation is clear and jump, hoping that the net will catch you.  If you have any doubts or fears, you could end up doing this mental balancing for days, weeks, maybe even months – always fearing that leap.  It is, indeed, a leap of faith.  And the truth is that there is a chance that the net may not be there.  You may have to get up off the ground, dust yourself off, and try again. 

“Never too old, never too bad, never too late, never too sick to start from scratch once again.” -Bikram Choudhury

The Art of Reinvention

Ah yes, full scale reinvention.  At once terrifying and so terribly exciting, so energizing, invigorating, that while you’re considering it you’re thinking that you must be crazy and you’re laughing maniacally all the way.  Reinvention is not just about finding your  place, your people, your path in life.  It’s about finding yourself.  And about accepting who you really are and living every day like you mean it.  

Let me say again how utterly terrifying it is to some of us to live as both a new version of ourselves (which is to say, new to others) and also the person who we know has been there all along.

“You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” –A.A. Milne