I love the steady and constant beat of life. Embracing the comforts of a scheduled routine filled with things that I know I can do effortlessly is easy for me! Maybe that's why I am not prone to do things outside of my comfort zone. Sometimes, even if I have a strong tugging on my heart to try something new, normally from God, (or my husband), I can find it painstaking to take the first move. However, as I've gotten older, I've begun to appreciate the importance of taking the first steps away from my security and steps towards my potential destiny.
My writing journey has been the most difficult move for me to make. The process created a shift in who I am and want to be. I'm a private person who rarely shares "big stuff" with less than a handle of family and friends. So, exposing my vulnerabilities through my words with the public, still seems almost ridiculous to me.
What was I thinking?
Too much; is what I am normally thinking! And that alone is what can get in the way of me taking risks and chances on things that don't always feel comfortable. Analyzing a million and one reasons why I shouldn't write, even though I absolutely love doing it and feel like it could truly help other women, interfered with me starting it. What would people think? Who would even read it? Why would anyone care? were just a few of the self-sabotage questions that would trip me up. But I finally let go of the doubts, trusted God over my insecurities and feeling sick to my stomach and completely unsure and clueless, I took the risk and published my first blog post!
To some, it might seem crazy easy to follow their dreams, to me it just felt crazy. But I decided that if I was going to live my best life, I needed to not fear something that God had laid on my heart and felt like a gift to me. I wanted to embrace this uncomfortable journey of getting where I needed to go and most importantly where God wanted me to be. Once I began writing, my fears began to be replaced with different realities and that's what I have clung to.
REPLACING FEARS WITH REALITY
Feeling embarrassed from what people might think of me was replaced with gratitude for those who support me by making the efforts to read and comment on my words weekly
Feeling vulnerable from sharing difficulties in my life was replaced with empathy for others and the realization that something I may share might be heard by someone who desperately needs it.
Feeling exposed was replaced with purpose and letting others know that they're not alone.
I've learned that there is no specific formula to finding our true destiny. It can be overnight or take years to be clear to us. It can produce financial success or just personal success or both if we're lucky. What's more important than all the unknowns about it is taking the first step to find it. As my pastor clearly put it, "It is often the start that stops us." Stepping away from what is comfortable and toward what's new and uncomfortable are the only ways to find it.
"If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough." - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
If you feel led to try something new, that you believe will add value to your life and others, do it! Don't wait. Removing my doubts and embracing God's unknown plan for me instead, even when it feels scary, will always be worth it, as long as I take one step at a time.
"You don't have to have Faith to Finish, only Faith for the Next Step." ~Unknown