Embracing Change

[Bryan]

There’s just something about Autumn. Naturally, I love the beautiful colors and the vivid imagery, but to me, it also seems like a time to embrace change. It’s a time to shed away our outdated layers and prepare ourselves for journeys down brand new roads.

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It’s not always easy to turn the page in our own story and start writing a brand new chapter. It can be downright scary to stare down at a blank page and wonder what words are going to come next. We don’t know what the outcome will be. We don’t know what characters will be introduced and we certainly don’t know what exactly to expect.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been pushed heavily to start doing something different with my life, right away. I am grateful for the work I’ve done. I’m actually good at it and I still plan on doing it whenever I’m needed, but my primary calling seems to have changed.  Luckily,  this work did show me what happens when real self-confidence is added to the equation and I’m grateful for the folks I was able to successfully empower, but it is evident to me now this was merely a stepping stone. Our desires do change and it’s up to us to change directions when needed.  Sometimes new ideas sprout up from the ground and immediately catch our attention. We can’t stop looking at them and we can’t think of doing anything different. I never used to give these feelings credence and would dismiss them as nothing more than a temporary emotional response to something I must have seen. Even though I couldn’t easily remove these thoughts from my mind and even though I would literally see myself executing these new desires, I would treat these impulses as annoying weeds that took away from the beautiful garden I was attempting to maintain. Come to find out, I was quite wrong.

I’ve read several articles that all talk about embracing change and discuss how we should throw our hands up in the air and welcome in all the new in every single aspect of our lives – all the time. This type of message is pushed out there by most everyone. The New Agers tell us to align ourselves with our heart center. The Christians tell us to listen to what God is telling us and then obey.  Other folks like to keep it simple and just call it a leap of faith, but it’s always promoted in a positive way and ends with a simple, “Do it!” I get this concept at the core and I do buy into it, but for many of us, myself included, changes can be frightening.  Many of us are still tending to our wounds from the past and the first thought of change can easily conjure up some deeply rooted fears. This is especially true for anyone that has ever found themselves sitting at the bottom of a lightless pit drowning in their own tears. I’ve been in that place and even though there is no satisfaction to be found down there whatsoever, we stay stuck until we learn to embrace the idea of something different. We would rather experience remorse than take a chance in believing everything will turn out even better.  It’s easier to expect the worst and react negatively than to blindly follow our own intuitive ways.  This safeguard also ensures we don’t experience further disappointment, but unfortunately, it does produce feelings of numbness and is a guaranteed way to stay stagnant.

I tell everyone to follow their dreams and to nurture every single one of their desires. I just know it is right. I’ve done it before and it worked, but the second time around seems to be even more challenging.  I have also received a lot of help and I am grateful for the encouragement, but I do get mildly irritated when other people offer me cliché advice that they have yet to execute themselves.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – knowing all the answers and living our own truths are two very different things, yet lately, I found myself in the same predicament. I stood up a few days ago and told myself I was suddenly the hypocrite! I was going against what I know works and what I believe in at the core. I was terrified of this change. I worried about feeling secure. I worried about taking care of the people around me. But, if I was brave enough to walk out of a good paying secure job a year and half ago to pursue a field I thought I was my final stop, there is no reason why I can’t do it again. As mentioned before, these changes are scary, but we have to try. I strongly feel we must learn to walk down a new road whenever the time comes and find new ways to effectively express ourselves.

It’s time to go for it. While I won’t get into what I’m going to do specifically, I’m taking another leap of faith. I’m going to put every bit of my own passion into what I love the most right now, keep myself present, and expect the best. I’m going to set the fear aside and just go get it. I can no longer manipulate myself into believing that I am destined to stay in a particular field when I strongly feel there is much more out there. It’s not right and I encourage everyone to move past their hypocritical ways and take a chance on their own desires. I don’t see any other way to find real satisfaction. I refuse to believe that life is about playing it safe and keeping ourselves dormant.

I feel life is about finding happiness within ourselves and pursuing our own vision. It’s about embracing and creating change whenever necessary and learning to trust ourselves. It’s about getting up every morning and exuding passion in every single one of our actions. We are not destined for misery. We are not meant to be unhappy and regularly experience dissatisfaction. We are meant to make a difference in our own unique way. Everyone has the inner wherewithal to make this happen. Get out there, look for it, find your own magic, determine what makes you feel invincible and then never stop pursuing it. It worked for me once before and I now know there is no reason why it won’t work again. It will work for you too. Just trust it and more importantly, trust yourself.

[Bryan]

If you push me, there's a good chance I'm gonna grab your arm and take you with me :P

[Bryan]

You should do it again! Heck, just go for it :)