“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, Wow! What a Ride!”
–Hunter S. Thompson
A friend of mine posted this on Facebook recently. She remarked that she’s not physically adventurous or an exciting risk-taker.
I was reminded of this today when I was talking with one of my granddaughters. She’s a high-school freshman and is taking advanced weightlifting. She’s the only girl in that class. And she said she didn’t think freshmen were allowed to be in the advanced level.
I told my granddaughter that I was proud of her. Taking a class where you’re both the youngest and the only girl is scary. It’s a risk.
But every time we take a risk, we push the boundaries of what we thought we were capable of. We prove to ourselves that we’re made of strong stuff. We open the door to the next challenge, which we’ll face with a little less fear because we know we could handle the previous test.
We don’t have to leap out of an airplane or bungee jump over a river to “loudly proclaim, Wow! What a Ride!”
Take a moment to think of something you’ve done that tested your safe boundaries.
Me? I graduated from high school early and moved to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. I didn’t speak much French and didn’t know if I’d even be accepted by that venerable institution. But that was ages ago. More recently, I dissolved the corporation I had run for twenty years and started on a new career path: energy clearing. That was a scary move.
Small things count as well. Maybe you stood up for yourself. Or you advocated for someone. Perhaps you allowed yourself to tell the truth when it was difficult or uncomfortable. It might even have been saying no to someone.
Courage comes in many forms, not just physical. There are emotional, moral, and social acts of derring-do.
How can you experience something unfamiliar this week?
P.S. I can’t even look at the photo of the woman on that swing without raising my blood pressure to an unhealthy level!