Get curious before decided
Have you ever thought about what you would go back and tell your younger self?
Back in the day, I had a dream to make a career of travelling the world. I was so fascinated by cultures after spending a year away on an exchange program. But slowly over time the excitement over that idea turned into fear and hesitation.
That storyline doesn’t end with how I triumphed over that fear.
It ends with how I gave into it and regretted it sorely later on.
The thing that I regretted the most? The process of how I came to the conclusion that this exciting lifestyle was not a possibility for me.
What was my process?
Well, I looked at how anxious prone I was in my day-to-day life and just decided that I wasn’t the kind of person who was courageous enough to do it. I believed if I did try it out, that I would be so sick with worry the entire time about how to make money and how to stay safe as a female travelling alone, that I wouldn’t enjoy myself anyway. I anticipated feeling fearful in the future and decided that it just wouldn’t be worth it.
Can you imagine? Can you relate?
Looking back I am shocked at the blind spots I had. If only someone wise could have illuminated them and helped me make sense of them. The one I would have targeted first would have been my willingness to enter a state of curiosity before deciding.
Where I went wrong was I didn’t even TRY to imagine how to make a work-travel lifestyle possible. I didn’t talk to anyone, do any research, gather stories, look for role models, brainstorm…nothing.
The same went for how to overcome my anxiety and become a brave person who felt confident about looking after herself. I didn’t even try and imagine it was possible I could be any other way and took no further action to explore a solution.
I decided who I was. And that was that.
Making that choice radically determined the path my life would take.
So my questions for you today are:
- what are you deciding on before you allow yourself to be in a state of curiosity?
- What would allowing yourself to be in a state of curiosity look like?
- Who would you be if you imagined there was a secure path to becoming that person?
- Who we decide we are, who we decide we aren’t, and who we decide we can be determines everything.
Choosing to be curious first also changes everything.