This illustration from PJ Milani nails it: It’s not *usually* about taking the one giant Thelma and Louise-type leap. It’s about taking a series of small, deliberate steps in the direction of your dreams. Consistency and persistency over time, as an old boss used to say.
Is there risk in some of those steps? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT. Every time we step outside the realm of what’s safe, what’s predictable, and what’s known and step into what’s potentially unsafe, unpredictable, and unknown… we accept some degree of risk. What if?? What then??? But mindset matters. Will we step with confidence or trepidation? Mindfully or on autopilot? Carrying a sense of direction or one of desperation?
I think back to 10 years ago when I stepped off the corporate wheel. That was a risk, for sure – but very much a necessary one. Later, it felt risky when I began to identify myself a yoga teacher and, years after that, a writer. But we become by doing; we validate ourselves through our experiences; we reap the bounty by planting seeds. We walk by stepping.
The question is, as Elizabeth Gilbert puts it: “What are you willing to do to have the life you say you want?” What are you walking toward, and what are you willing to risk to arrive there?
