What's going to happen next? WHAT!??! You don't know?? WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE THEN!!! How can you not know?
These are the thoughts that pass through my head every time I take a risk. Well, actually, they have recently returned to my thought process. I used to be absolutely terrified of life, and I guess I still am to an extent. It's a mystery. It's a series of adventures and you have no idea where they are going to take you. It's a long and bumpy journey to an unknown land, in unchartered water.
What's not to be afraid of?
Then I read this quote somewhere by Buddha:
"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change."
Believe it or not, this quote changed my perspective of the world.
To me it says, "If you don't experience the beauty of life, your world will never grew-- it'll never change into what you want it to be." If somehow I could see the miracle in the single flower-- a tiny, beautiful, flower-- then my world would some how change into something wonderful. Something sprouted in me, something I had never felt before. The thirst for adventure. For life. For independence.
That short, seemingly meaningless quote drove me to...
create a BUCKET LIST!
By creating a bucket list I was about to begin taking risks. I began experiencing life. It led me to try things I would have never thought possible before. It led me to find a way out of things I didn't enjoy, meet new people that I love and care about and who love and care about me, and pursue my dream of starting my own business!
But something has happened over the past year. Somehow I lost that drive to take risks. The unwelcome fear has slipped back into my head. So today, I am officially going to start the process of overcoming that fear again! My bucket list consists of a variety of different things like smile at a stranger, to singing karaoke, to sky diving. Each week I am going to try to do something different, that I have never done before, whether it be written on my list, or it be spur of the moment. Hopefully over time I will begin to do more than one thing per week, and eventually not have to think about it too much before I take a risk.
I hope to never forget the beauty of taking risks again!