Why settle for safe?
Many people want more from their lives.
They want more from and for themselves.
But we get stuck. We come up against fear and doubt. And unless we are willing to do whatever it takes to overcome that, we become resigned. And resignation looks and feels like settling for safe.
Safe is protection that can feel like hiding. Safe is watching from the sidelines while others make the touchdown, personally or professionally. Safe is watching the clock tick by at a job you hate or one that stresses you out or sitting beside someone who doesn't stir your soul but is safe to hide behind. Safe is sacrificing a potential existence for the sake of avoiding failure or freedom.
Safe is daily sacrifices of your vibrant voice, your deep desires, your tender truths.
Many people have called me inspiring. They think that leaving several unfulfilling jobs or relationships or radically changing lifelong eating and lifestyle habits or taking steps to alter this mere body I inhabit took an incredible and awesome amount of courage. And perhaps I've done so much for so many years that I've lost perspective and I now fail to see what is courageous about not settling for safe.
Each time I was faced with a decision about my quality of life, I thought I could imagine no worse existence than settling for a safe one when a profound one, albeit difficult, lay within my reach.
Is that courage? Or is that what it means to be alive and not merely exist.
I figured, why should I settle for safe when I am here with limited time to live to the limits of my potential.
Why settle for safe jobs if you aren't thrilled with your work every day?
Why settle for safe relationships that don't challenge you to be the best version of yourself?
Why settle for a safe living space that doesn't feel like a sanctuary?
Why settle for safe, in general?
When we settle for safe, we shortchange ourselves of the deep digging that actually liberates us from our fear. Like a reinforced metal box containing something precious, safe actually keeps us limited, small and hidden.
Safe buys us time at the high cost of our contentedness.
Why settle for safe when you could have the adventure of your life?