“do one thing every day that scares you”
“change is the only constant”
If you know me, have read my previous blogs, view my Facebook page, or even have had an in-depth conversation with me, you’ll know that I LOVE QUOTES. Motivational, inspirational, make-you-think-about-life kind of quotes. There have been some pretty incredible things said by people who have walked this Earth. There have been women and men who have summed their life experiences into a few powerful snippets of advice. And when I hear a snippet that moves me, that rattles my soul, I always save it and write it down.
The 3 quotes that I used to start this post are quotes that I have run into over and over again in life. They have appeared everywhere, time and time again. At first I wasn’t as captivated by these words as I was with other quotes. They didn’t strike me as words to live by. I sort of thought- well why change something if what you’re doing is working? Why do something SCARY every day? I’m afraid of spiders, family and friends getting sick, and car accidents. I want to stay as FAR away from all those things as possible! How can change be the only constant? Don’t people figure things out and then keep on keepin’ on? This was my initial reaction to reading these quotes.
As the days of my life journey have unfolded and I have been blessed with more and more experiences and opportunities in life, I found myself going back and thinking about one quote in particular- the one that bothered me the most. “Do one thing every day that scares you”. Spoken by the incredible Eleanor Roosevelt, I knew this quote HAD to be powerful, I just wasn’t seeing the power yet. I tried applying this quote to different instances and occurrences in life, to see if it “fit”. And then one day, it hit me. Every time I found success in life, every time I achieved a goal, every time I made another dream come true, it had been immediately preceded by taking a huge risk. In order to achieve something I hadn’t yet accomplished, I had to go to lengths I never dared to before. I did something SCARY by taking those risks and delving into uncharted territory.
There was always a significant amount of fear when I did so; fear that I’d fail, fear that I’d be made fun of, fear that it wouldn’t go exactly as I envisioned, fear that it’d go FAR BETTER than I was prepared for. And no matter what the outcome, I realized I always learned a valuable lesson. The lesson became power and knowledge to use toward achieving my next goal. The scariest moments were those that yielded the most powerful results. I realized that if I had always stayed put, in a place where I knew I could “get by” and be comfortable, I would never be able to follow my passions and achieve true success. I now embrace the thought of doing something each day that scares me. But I now realize that it could mean any number of things- small to HUGE. The main thing is to always keep challenging myself to be better, to progress forward, to meet new goals, and to be as happy as I can in my own skin every day. Stepping out on a limb, where its scary, is the only place for that to happen.
Take time today to do something that scares you… take that risk, step out of your comfort zone even just a little bit. Do that thing you’ve been thinking about for a few weeks but have been a bit too fearful to complete. And then share. I’d love to hear your story.