Whether it’s change you choose or change forced upon you, change looms large on the horizon for 2017. You will handle it better and seize it’s opportunities when you lean into the discomfort it always holds.
As we look out toward the year ahead, change looms large on the horizon. The person living in the White House is just for starters.
As I wrote in last week’s blog, since we prefer the familiarity of the known to the uncertainty of the unknown, change has a way of stoking anxiety. It’s why so many people spend years in jobs, careers, relationships or just settling for situations that don’t light them up and often weigh them down. A lot.
Yet as uncomfortable as change can be, it always holds with a silent invitation – to expand your perspective and to discover capacity and capabilities you may have otherwise assumed you didn’t have.
Having had to deal with a lot of change over my life (with more to come this year… but that’s another email), I know all too well that sometimes the change we face isn’t change we’d consciously have chosen. Other times, we’re called to initiate change; to make the decision that we do not want the future to be a continuation of the past.
Both require courage. Courage to let go the familiarity of what you have now and embrace new opportunities. Courage to say “Enough” to whatever is dragging you down and say “Yes” to whatever has been tugging at your heart. Courage to set out on a new path that may be far from the original one you set out upon. Courage to make yourself vulnerable… to failure, to criticism, to rejection. Courage to take full ownership of your life (no blame, no excuses.)
Most of all, courage to lean into the discomfort that change holds but to hold your course toward the highest vision for your life; that one that draws out your strengths, honours your values and lights you up at a heart’n’soul level.
What I know for sure is that within you lays all the resources to make the changes and deal with the challenges ahead.
It may not be easy. It make be outright tough going at times. But you’ve got this and the only thing that is getting in the way of you making this year truly extraordinary is your belief that you can’t.
Stay brave.
If you’d love some extra support on your journey, here’s a few resources for you:
- The Live Your Soul Purpose women’s interview series by Terra Christoff, PhD which includes my interview on how to discover your purpose and make your mark in the world.
- Get yourself a copy of Brave (life focused) or Stop Playing Safe (work/leadership/career-focused), and read it!
Here’s to forging your bravest path in the year ahead… whatever changes it holds!
