I jumped out of my truck and headed toward the door of a home, to talk to a man I never met, someone that was referred to me by a friend when I asked what she was doing to change her life. Just as I was midway between the safety of my truck and the unknown of that door, I saw out of the corner of my eye, a dog, a Rottweiler to be exact, heading straight for me.
The next thing I knew I was standing in the living room of a stranger, a man I had never met before, waiting for my appointment.
What made me dart forward, to choose the unknown rather than run back to the safety of my truck? At the time I did not recognize the enormity of that choice, the subtle desire for change more than the comforts of the known. We often find ourselves resisting change in life even if we are miserable, often out of the idea of staying in the comfort zone of our lives. Truth is, that life was not that comfortable although I knew how to live in it.
Desiring more for yourself can often surprise you in the choices you make and by simply stepping one foot in a slightly different direction, you create a momentum that may end up changing everything.
I could not have projected the changes that one moment created in my life and where I am today and the courage I have to choose greater can be traced back to those visits.
People often say things to me, that’s easy for you to say, your life is amazing, or you don’t know what it’s like to… I get it and it’s simply not true. Today, I may be the woman who can load up her car, drive across the country without a plan of where I am going and enjoy every mile. And…
There was a time when I sat for weeks, sobbing, in front of a man encouraging me to just consider the idea that restraining orders exist, to consider just driving by the courthouse thinking about them. That was a long time ago, a lot of changes later and I still remember what it feels like to entertain death over living, to wonder how I will survive buried under multiple layers of limitation. And…
I wake up grateful that I am alive, that I am who I am, that I have experienced what I experienced. Yes the cliche, I am who I am because of it applies and more importantly, I have a vast amount of life to pull from when family, a friend or a client calls me up and asks for assistance.
Have you ever considered the journey you are on, the experiences you encounter and the trials and triumphs as a contribution to who you are and the gift of you to this world?
I wonder?
Michelle
