Growing up and into my adult life taking risks was so "unsafe" to think about. I grew up with a mother that was literally afraid of the world outside our home, when in reality our home was one of the most unsafe places I have ever been. Although, looking back I took risks all the time...they just didn't seem that risky to me if I had made up my mind that what I was doing was what I wanted. I ran away from an abusive home when I was 14 years old and lived on the streets for a short time...risky? and I wanted something different than what I had. I became a mother at the age of 17 and stepped into the biggest risk I had ever faced, motherhood...risky?...I was living a destructive lifestyle and now had someone to live for. I chose to leave a co-dependent relationship and raise my 3 children on my own at the age of 28 after closing a family business and my only source of "secure" income...risky?...I wanted something more for myself and my children. These are just a few examples of the risks I took as I was growing up. Now, each one of these steps were not easy to take and each one was just another lesson in my life. You would think the decision to do something "risky" would get easier after a few, right?
It has taken some time, self discovery and faith over the past two years to realize that it does get easier, in fact making risky decisions has become very exciting for me now! We took a major risk when two years ago we talked to each other and realized we were both unhappy owning and operating our own electrical contracting business. At that moment we both realized the reason we were both working together in this business was for the other person! He thought I loved to work doing a job in an industry that I secretly hated, wanted a big house, cars, toys, the "American" dream and I thought he loved working in the electrical industry, wanted the "security" of owning our own business and becoming a major player in the business world. After he suffered an injury and was told that if he continued to work in this industry he would consistently have this same injury on a regular basis. What we found out is that there is no such thing as "Security" and the "American" dream can be anything WE want it to be instead of trying to keep up with the Jones's or "Fit In" with what society expects. We could LIVE our dreams instead of just dreaming about what we always said we wanted to do in the future!!! That meant taking a HUGE risk...closing our business, selling our home and jumping in with both feet to travel on the road full time singing and playing music together!! Sounds crazy right? Well as respected business owners in our home town I can tell you that when we decided to do this together, we had PLENTY of our "friends", family, business associates question our mental stability haha! Looking back I love the fact that we actually had business associates who we thought were good friends tell us that we were appearing "Schizophrenic" to everyone in the community and they were worried about our reputation! Now I know they were more worried about theirs. This was a pivotal moment for us. We could listen to all of the people we trusted in our lives and borrow their fears for us; or we could step through it with courage to get what WE want. We stepped forward toward our dreams...not without fear...instead we were trusting in faith that this next step was going to be amazing! Since that big leap we continue to make "risky" decisions every step of the way...each step is just us getting closer to the next step, each one taking us in different and better directions! Guess what we have learned? We have never gone without, we have made more true friends around the country than we ever thought possible, experienced more kindness, love and generosity and we have not only survived...we THRIVE!!! We have experienced more bucket list experiences than we ever thought possible in two years and we are so excited to see what's next!! Joshua and I love the saying "But did you die?" after every risky decision that we make and watching it unfold in unexpected and sometimes scary ways...we say this to each other and always laugh! We continue to step out in faith, trust that we are following our true purpose and living our life to the fullest...will we die? Someday and when we do...we will look back on our lives without regrets and know we lived everyday to the fullest!!!
What if not taking the scary, exciting and unexpected risk is the one thing that is keeping you from a better job, a better house, a better relationship or relationships, your dreams, everything you "say" you want?
I have only one piece of advice here....take the risk...face the fear and get everything your heart has dreamed of!!! Is it scary? Sure, or it could be exciting...the choice is yours!!!