We as humans have unique tendencies. We have a weird way of shifting who we are and what we do based off of those around us. Don’t think I am shaming you, I’m not. I can think of countless ways that I have conformed myself, made decisions, and have grown to be like those around me. Why is this? Is this because we struggle to find who we really are and being someone else is easier? Is it because we think that there is only one way to live our lives? Both are possibilities but what I believe it comes down to is the paralyzing fear of walking along the unbeaten path.
The unbeaten path is scary for obvious reasons that goes against our normal habits of following along the path of least resistance. IT’S SCARY and that is okay to admit. So why even bother thinking about it, right?
When I first found out I was accepted into Hope College I felt this very same feeling of fear. It wasn’t close to home and I didn’t know one soul on the west side of Michigan. Some of you may be in the same boat I was in and you might feel this same feeling of fear. But the good news for you and I is that usually when we feel fear it means that we are usually stepping out onto that unbeaten path and here is where we are able to find ourselves more fully than we ever have before. So here is my challenge for you, whoever is reading this in whatever stage of life you are at, get uncomfortable. I challenge you to live a life that is constantly pushing your boundaries of comfort that places you in situations where you could have never imaged being while making decisions you never thought you would be making.
Why?
A poem I recently heard explains why perfectly when saying, “To cross oceans of uncertainty, one must leave the safety of the shore”.
Go and get uncomfortable!