I can’t believe one month ago I was sitting in this stadium and beginning my adventure in Denver. It’s still surreal when I wake up, walk outside and I can see the mountains. I wonder if I will ever get sick of that sight? Even sitting in rush hour traffic doesn’t seem so bad when you are looking at the gorgeous Rockies lit perfectly by the sun, surrounded by clear blue skies.
After only a month here, this journey has been nothing but extraordinary. Not because I felt right at home when I got out here or didn’t miss family and friends like crazy. No, in fact, it was a rocky transition at times as I searched for the new normal. I can remember sitting alone in my apartment, on a lawn chair (since the movers had yet to arrive with my belongings) thinking “why did you feel the need to move away from all that you knew, to a place you know no one Em?” It has been extraordinary simply because it has forced me to step outside of the invisible box I had sketched around myself at some point in life – my comfort zone.
If you have read previous posts, you know part of me wanting to move, was because I wanted to leave that comfort zone. I often found myself telling others to “trust the process” or “all will work out just fine” when it came to situations in their lives, only to reflect and find myself not walking that walk. I woke up each day to a predictable world in a sense. I went to a job I knew like the back of my hand. I hung out with the same people, worked out at the same time each day, wore the same clothes for weeks on end..okay maybe not the last part – but you get the idea 🙂 I had a the same, monotonous routine each day when my alarm clock went off. Why? It was comfortable. I knew what the outcome was going to look like. So this move was partly brought on by me wanting to put my philosophy into action – that all will work out just as it is supposed to. I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to grow both personally and professionally. I wanted to learn to trust when end could not be seen. Truly, I wanted to be okay with uncertainty, and embrace each day as it came; leaving the worry of what tomorrow would bring, behind.
These pictures below, well, that is what leaving worry behind has looked like in my life.
This is what was on the other side of the invisible box I created for myself.
This is the beauty I was missing out on when I wanted familiarity.
Now I am not saying you have to move thousands of miles away to step outside of that comfort zone, but I do wonder what God (or whatever/whoever you believe in) has in store for you outside of your everyday routine. I challenge you to really reflect on where you are in life. Happy? Not? Content, but in search for more? Doing something because you feel like that is the only option? What is keeping you where you are? For me, my biggest hesitations in this process were 1) Not having a routine I was used to 2) being an introvert and the process of meeting new people 3) Money and 4) being away from family.
Well I can assure you, this move has 1) stripped me far away from my routine 2) taken me to a place I knew no one 3) Caused me to save in order to do and sacrifice those impulse buys as Marshall’s for awhile (every lady understands the devastation in that!) and 4) taken me a few more miles away from family.
And a month later, life is good! I’m alive. Amazing that I didn’t fall flat on my face once I busted through that cement wall that limited me from going anywhere in life…okay, or maybe it seemed so strong because the known is much more comforting than the unknown. My faith has grown, I have met incredible people from all over the world and I’m at a job that teaches and challenges me everyday.
Fear can be real, but so can God’s presence in your life (or whatever higher power you believe in) when you allow it to be. I don’t think we are asked not feel or to never be terrified, sad, angry etc., but to let those uncomfortable emotions serve as a reminder we have a God that we can lean on in those times. So often, we are our only limitation when it comes down to it. Be bold and make today count.
Verse of today – Psalms 56:3
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