Hey friends! So first and foremost, welcome to the NEW Priority Messages website, where you can find everything Priority Messages related in one spot. Feel free to check back here often for updates, announcements, musings, recommendations and more.
As I was sitting down to write this entry, I started thinking about one of my favorite quotes:
“Don’t let the fear of the unknown stop you from experiencing a life greater than you have ever known.“
“Unknown” is a great word to describe what, well, the last 3 years have been like for so many of us. Between a global pandemic turning the world on its ear to so many changes and upheavals in many different areas of life for so many. It’s made many people need to reinvent themselves or make significant changes…and for just about everyone, it’s been more important than ever to stay on our toes.
But with uncertainty…can also come possibilities – even though that is usually the hardest thing to see when you are looking down a new road you haven’t been down before. Nobody really likes uncertainty, because comfort is…well, more comfortable…and our brains tend to equate comfort with “good.” However, nothing truly revolutionary or great has EVER happened in anyone’s comfort zone. Sometimes, taking a leap of faith in something you believe in – or better yet, YOURSELF – ends up giving you a better outcome than you could ever imagine. It’s in taking chances that we gain our hardest won and most satisfying victories, too.
If you are an excessive planner like I am – in other words, you make lists of your lists, and plans for your plans – you are probably not loving this conversation. But take it from someone who knows…who, in the past, has chronically opted to give in to the fear of change and instead stuck with the predictable most of the time…there is nothing that sets a stage for underdeveloped potential than this line of thinking does. Unfortunately, this is something we realize a little too late most of the time…when we see someone else run with an idea that we had years ago and turn it into an overwhelming success, or when we see someone who is less talented and capable than we are passing us by – not because they somehow surpassed us in skill but simply because they DARED to believe in themselves more than we did.
Friends, there is nothing wrong with being prepared, and doing your homework, and knowing as many of the facts as possible before making a decision. But the next step – taking ACTION based on those things – is crucial and arguably the most important thing in the whole equation. If all we ever did was embrace the familiar and not the unknown, Amelia Earhart would have never defied gravity, Thomas Edison would have sat in the dark until someone else came along and invented the light bulb, and I would be writing this blog post on a giant typewriter instead of an Apple computer who’s not so distant cousin was created in a garage in Los Altos, CA by two guys named Steve.
If you are currently thinking about making a change in some aspect of your life, but fear of the unknown is stopping you, here is something to think about: So many of life’s most valuable rewards are perfectly attainable if we do just one thing: ignore the voice of fear that is stopping you from reaching for it. Even if you fail the first time, or the tenth time…every risk you take, whether is leads to failure or success, adds a stroke of experience to your journey. Your failures teach you resilience. Your achievements boost your confidence. And both…are invaluable to have in your life’s journey.
