Stepping Out

This year has been full of stepping out in faith. Moving on from jobs I loved, traveling half way across the country to re-connect with family and take a chance on a relationship. It has been a lot of moments of fear and uncertainty. A lot of trusting that my backup plan is real, is true. Knowing that I can only fall so far and that there are people in my life who will help me pick up the pieces if things don't work out. But really, I know now, after a year of taking big steps, that I can pick up my own pieces. The start of this all came out of really digging mentally into the old school movement of Stoicism. It's not really what you think of when someone says they are "stoic". It's more a philosophy of control of ones inner self and the choices we make. I'm no expert. I'm really just starting to scratch the surface of what Stoicism encompasses. But the philosophy intrigues me. One of their most impactful practices for me is that ancient Stoics would spend a day or more a month in sack cloths on the streets "being poor" meditating on the idea "is this really what I feared?". Now of course if you are sure to go back to a hot bath and a rich supper at the end of your "poor day" it is nothing like being actually poor. However the mindfulness of this practice really struck me. It lead me to ask a lot of questions about my own fears and willingness to tak risk. What is the worst case senario? Why am I afraid of that? What would I do if I found myself there? Coming up with at least a partially fleshed out plan on what I would do if I wound up in a worst case scenario for any given risk has really helped me have the faith to step out and do some great things. And now, I'm on the eve of a big "risk". Right now I'm prepping my life to move into a small RV and travel the continent. It's a big risk, but the worst case scenario, it's really easy to handle, so I can step out in good faith. So the next time you find yourself in fear on a big, or for that matter little, risk, try this out. - Take stock, define what the risk is. - Come up with the WORST thing that could happen. I.E. if you are going to get a new job and are worried you might not fit in or be good enough at it, the worst case is that you would get fired, then you might not be able to pay your bills, and you might end up losing your apartment, then you might lose your car and possibly end up on the street homeless and destitue. - Ok, now that you have that horrible scenario all planned out and are in a complete panic, come up with a plan for what you would do if you do wind up in that situation. I.E. I will go and ask for my old job back first, if that doesn't work, I would go and apply for unemployment, if that doesn't work, I would talk to my family member who has some spare space and ask if I can live there for a while to get my feet under me and look for a better job, while there I will cook and clean to help out, I will also study a new skill online that will make me even more employable, especially in a field that I like or enjoy. And so on. - Now that you have a plan, put the fear down, as best you can. Rinse and repeat this cycle as new fears come up. You are a creative and resourceful person, you can make it through anything life shoves your way. If you doubt that, pull up youtube and look up some Paralympics footage, you can't fail to be inspired by the tenacity of the human spirit.