"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
- Anais Nin
A few weeks ago, I wrote this post on transition. As I've worked through my own period (read: life) of transition, I've been paying attention to my attitudes and feelings and how they ebb and flow in relation to it. Some days, I feel like I can take on the world. Some days make me feel healthily challenged, and still some make me feel…discouraged.
Discouragement is an interesting feeling. In my experience, it encompasses feelings of fear, loneliness, trepidation, and unmet expectations. It takes your hope and shrinks it, covers up your confidence, and often quiets your voice. I'm a fan of feelings, but this one isn't one of my favorites.
Here's what I've learned though…when you're discouraged, when something in life has you down, when your expectations aren't being met, all you can do is keep moving forward. In fact, that is the only and the most important answer. Even when it feels hard, impossible, and like an upward climb, we have to make the commitment to dive head first into the mess. And that is the secret…the commitment. Making the choice to improve our own situation and to ask for what we need helps us to regain control that maybe feels lost. We have to take a breath, and just do what it takes. Google ways to make friends in a new city, join a dating site, apply for a new job, go to a movie by yourself…just do it. Because…really, what is the alternative? It might feel better in the moment to not be vulnerable and to stay safe, but does it really? I think we are rewarded for plowing through discouragement. Life happens in moments of intense courage and those moments aren't given to us…we have to create and take them.
