There’s a weird Catch 22 that people get into because they want things to change, but they are unwilling to release the death grip they have on them so the change can’t occur. When prompted they will tell you they are afraid of the unknown and if they could just know what would happen, then they would be ok with letting go. Which sounds oh so logical until you realize that the change they want is actually a change in them and they can’t know what will happen when they change because they’ve never done it or been it so they have no experience of it. It’s impossible for them to know until they make the change. I mean, you can tell someone who has never had sex all about sex, but they won’t actually know what you mean until they have had it for the first time. And they can’t possibly know who they will become after having had it. But that doesn’t dissuade most people from having sex for a whole host of reasons including that the sex drive is built into our bodies so we’ll desire it no matter how much fear we have about change and the unknown.
Our best lives are full of change and exploration, new and unfolding territories, things we’ve never done or been before. That’s a huge part of why we choose embodied life, so that we have these opportunities. We can think them through and over think them, plan and replan and triple check the plan, but until we start doing we don’t really know what will happen and the best and most magic moments happen when we deviate from the script, do the unplanned, just drive until we stop or find something interesting to go see. We can’t know we’re good at something until we try it. Our minds, as creative as they are, are still pretty limited in comparison with the multitudinous adventures and events and possibilities that are out there.
Diving into the unknown can seem overwhelming. Too many choices makes choice nearly impossible, but that’s the thing. We’re rarely faced with choosing from everything. We’re usually confronting yes or no options. Do this or don’t do it. Go here or don’t. Say yes or no. That one answer may open an entire field of possibilities but that’s a good thing. Take each opportunity one step at a time, don’t get confused by having a whole host of things dumped into your lap because they are probably all parts of one thing that just needs assembly, and let go of the need to keep a strangle hold on what has been before. Nothing can take the past from you, it’s yours to keep. But not diving in keeps the possible future from ever coming to pass. So choose to take a deep breath and…