Stepping Out and Gaining Confidence

Every Sunday evening, I go through the history of the blogs I write looking to see if there’s anything that I wrote this same week in previous years that is worth sharing again on Twitter or other social media platforms.

Last night, I found an article I wrote on May 1, 2011, almost 6 years ago, called Getting it Done, in which I discuss the stress of going through a major life change and living in a new place.

So, here it is, 2017, and I could write almost the same exact thing. Once again, I’ve moved to a new state, started a new job, and find myself dealing with all of that somewhat on my own while my wife finishes up her job and packing up our stuff before leaving Oregon.

Six years later is it still stressful? Absolutely. Are there still a ton of things to deal with and to get done? Of course. Do I find myself emotionally and mentally drained at the end of each day? Heck yeah.

But it’s also different, in one huge way.

I’ve done this before. I know that I can do it.

If I had played it safe and not made this sort of move in 2011, I wouldn’t have that confidence. If life forced this kind of change on me, I wouldn’t have that backlog of experience to look at and know that it is possible. I’d have to be doing it for the first time.

Sometimes, avoiding the stress, and avoiding any change, does us a disservice. It robs us of a chance to prove ourselves capable and gain the confidence of having dealt with it before to look back on when we have to deal with it again.

More importantly, I’ve also learned through these experiences that even when things don’t go exactly as planned, it won’t kill me. I can adjust, learn from any mistakes that were made, and continue on.

We’ve already survived so much, it’s a shame when we miss out because we lack the faith in ourselves that we will continue to survive.

Photo by ** RCB **