The risk and reward of being f---ing brave.
Every time I want to write or type a curse in my blog post, I chicken out. There's a voice inside me that says, don't do it.
It feels like a metaphor for my life. And maybe yours, too.
Do you hear that same voice? The one that says, "don't do it." For whatever reason.
Because it goes against the grain in some way.
Because it would cost you something.
Because it requires you being vulnerable.
Because it means you could "fail".
Because it means changing something about yourself.
Because there's no guarantee it would work.
Because of what happened last time you tried something.
Yep. All those thoughts clamor around when we are poised on the edge of some kind of decision or action: personally or professionally. And the longer we sit there, the more agonizing it can be. We are faced with the decision to act in the face of uncertainty. We get to choose whether we will stay put, in the hamster wheel we've been in, or we will summon the courage to CHOOSE CHANGE.
We don't know how or if it will work. We don't get a safety net. We might possibly fall flat on our faces. We might get rejected. We might be ignored. We might see in stunning brilliance our many faults and character flaws.
Or none of those might happen. Or maybe some do.
Or we get hand-picked, exactly as we are, just because. We receive all green lights and a big bold YES. We ask and receive. We put it out there and the results are magnificent. We get thanked and chosen and celebrated.
And that's the risk and reward of being fucking brave.
Each day we wake up, our odds are 50/50. It can go either way. The coin is in our hands and we can flip it or not.
I recently texted the title of this blog post to someone I know. It was a sentence I came up with on the spot as I sent her a few encouraging words. She was on the brink of something big and she was facing some self-doubt. It was easy for me to see how successful she would be, she's an exceptionally smart and tenacious person. Her courage is above-average. Her charisma is incredibly charming. And she still confessed deep hesitation and concern about the outcome.
And I could relate. I feel it every day. My personal and professional worlds have evolved and improved from a series of failures and successes, each one possible because of the risks I took each day. Quitting jobs that didn't feel right. Withdrawing from relationships when they weren't feeling good. Changing my gender identity three years into my business. Sometimes the risks led to failures that stacked up to the point of rendering me paralyzed. Too many in a row left me feeling discouraged. And then I would get a win. A solid, undeniable success. And I got back in the game.
Some things will work, some will not. We can never know the outcome of something before we try. We can only know the freedom we feel from trying and letting go of our attachment to how things pan out.
And that's the risk and reward of being fucking brave.