Maybe I Shouldn't, But I Will

Not everything that seems scary is necessarily to be avoided.

Those moments when you choose to allow yourself, your boundaries, to be challenged...that time can be a somewhat scary moment that really shouldn't always be avoided. This is where growth and life experience often occur. It is a factor in pushing and testing those boundaries that we often hold tightly. Are they necessary, and are they as strong as we may require them to be? Without testing those waters, there really is no definitive way to be certain of either.

The first time I watched both of my sons drive away in a vehicle that I did not also occupy was a HUGE test of faith. That moment, and the subsequent minutes that followed, were an unchartered territory wrought with stress and breathless moments, preparing me for the day they leave will the nest.  I'm still in the preparation stages of watching my sons go off into the big, wide world all on their own, but without that first car ride absent of mom, I wouldn't be this close to 'ready'.

Any experience, whether it is with an occupation, friendship, or life and death choice is a moment that defines and shapes the way we move forward. There are things that just shouldn't be avoided, because the potential for growth is so much more than the preservation of status quo is worth. Risk can be immensely beneficial.

I'd like to think I'm aware enough, of my surroundings and the flow of life, that I wouldn't prevent the forward progression of growth. I might hem and haw over semantics - and that is truly all the examples and excuses end up being, but the truth of venturing out of our comfort zones is risk and the belief that we are never given more than we can handle. Whatever we put out is what we get back, more or less. If I cower in a corner afraid of the things I don't understand, or am apprehensive about new experiences and people, exactly how do I expect to move from the very spot I occupy?

There are risks, calculated or not, that carry a weight far beyond any repercussions we might ever imagine. As tough as it might initially be, I am for the pushing of self-imposed limits to see just how far my growth really can take me. How about you?