Smart Possibilities - The Amazing Side of ChangeLast night I was talking with a friend about fear and things we are afraid of. The typical examples came up….mice, heights, walking around with your fly down all day. (Admit it…secretly that terrifies you!) But, as I was driving home, I started thinking about fears that have had lasting impacts on my life. There is a common thread -Change.

Every time I have been truly afraid, it wasn’t of a “thing” it was fear to take an action that I knew would bring about major change in my world. The irony is that I clearly wasn’t happy with the way things were or I wouldn’t have even conceived that change was possible or necessary. And yet, I was afraid of the very thing I knew needed to happen.

I see people all around me in jobs they don’t like, relationships that have grown stale, and situations they have outgrown. If you ask these people if they are happy they will tell you that they aren’t, but that they are helpless to make a change because….. and then lots of different excuses follow. They won’t say they are afraid- I didn’t admit it- but if you really listen, you hear it over and over.

Quitting my corporate job and heading out on my own is one of the biggest changes in my life so far. Was I afraid to make the leap? Sure. Did I do it anyway? Yup! When I sat back and evaluated what I really wanted in the days and years ahead, I realized that I couldn’t continue to do the same thing and expect anything different to happen. I HAD to make the change if I expected different results. I stopped making excuses for why I couldn’t change (trust me- I had a lot of them), wrote down my vision of what the future could look like if I made the change, closed my eyes, and jumped.

It has only been 2 weeks, but I have to tell you, I don’t have any regrets. I am no longer a passive character in my own life. I forced the circumstances that make me an active creator of my future. It’s funny because I am exactly where I expected to be 2 weeks after leaving my job, and yet, it isn’t scary like I thought it would be. Once I made the change, I found out there was nothing to be afraid of. This side of change has proven a better version of my life and that, my friends, is pretty amazing.

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