Change generates fear. So what?
It is much easier to go with the flow and listen to others who advise you to play it safe, to hang on to that ill-fitting job, that career you know is not right for you. Making a change is scary, but feeling fear is not a signal to retreat. The willingness to feel fear and keep going forward distinguishes the living from the merely breathing. In fact, it is not just the so-called negative emotions that are uncomfortable. When you choose to live fully, your palate of experiences, thoughts, emotions, and possibilities expands. This leads you onto new ground in other areas of your life as well. And, folks, all that newness swirling around just isn’t comfortable.
The question is not whether to take risks, but which ones to take. The peril of being reasonable is that you will miss all the fun. It’s not enough to cautiously edge your way toward the cliff. Learn to revel in taking risks for the sake of your soul. Every choice you make gives birth instantly to certain risks as surely as your shadow follows you.”
A passionately lived life
A passionately lived life is not always comfortable. Going for it involves being open to all of life – the joys, the sorrows, the mundane as well as the magic, the splendid victories, the most abject defeats. You might even stop closing your eyes during the scary parts of the movie.
Why only human beings have unfulfilled lives
Everyone else on the planet, from the lowest amoebae to the great blue whale, expresses all their component elements in a perfect dance with the world around them, or they become extinct. We humans are so adaptable that we can survive and even reach the pinnacle of success in work that isn’t a natural fit for our talents and personality. But we pay a steep price: in our experience of aliveness, in our health, longevity, and what we pass on to our children.
Change generates fear. So what?
It is much easier to go with the flow and listen to others who advise you to play it safe, to hang on to that ill-fitting job, that career you know is not right for you. Making a change is scary, but feeling fear is not a signal to retreat. The willingness to feel fear and keep going forward distinguishes the living from the merely breathing. In fact, it is not just the so-called negative emotions that are uncomfortable. When you choose to live fully, your palate of experiences, thoughts, emotions, and possibilities expands. This leads you onto new ground in other areas of your life as well. And, folks, all that newness swirling around just isn’t comfortable.
The question is not whether to take risks, but which ones to take. The peril of being reasonable is that you will miss all the fun. It’s not enough to cautiously edge your way toward the cliff. Learn to revel in taking risks for the sake of your soul. Every choice you make gives birth instantly to certain risks as surely as your shadow follows you.”
Self-esteem is the reputation you have with yourself.
Self-esteem never hovers. It is either rising or falling, based mostly on what is occurring in your life. It usually rises when you win, when you are satisfied with yourself and the progress you are making in your life. It falls when you lose regularly, when life is a constant struggle, when your confidence is eroded, when you feel no connection between you and the world around you.
Your work profoundly influences your self-esteem. People who change paths in mid-career nearly always report that their ill-fitting careers had damaged their self-esteem. Create a future you will be proud of, and your self-esteem will take care of itself.”
